Infinite - MCU High-School AU Book2
by FlirtingWithDeath000
Summary: After a school shooting, Tony Stark disappears to a holiday camp, leaving Stephen Strange with questions and no answers. The two rivals reunite with their expanding friendship group in the 2nd semester of school and experience Camp, Exchange Students, more of Westwood, and learn the true reason their school was attacked. Sequel to: /Together/ MCU High-School AU
1. INTRODUCTION

p style="text-align: center;" data-p-id="df810ce0da5b420cc6db2af6e23663e7"strong"/strong if we can't protect the earth, you can be damn sure we'll avenge it strong"/strong/p  
p style="text-align: center;" data-p-id="d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e" /p  
p style="text-align: center;" data-p-id="2c32e46fc144ac9f909b3eb0b3ccb0cb"strongwe all know the avengers. we love them./strong/p  
p style="text-align: center;" data-p-id="2c32e46fc144ac9f909b3eb0b3ccb0cb"strongI wrote an AU and you guys loved it./strong/p  
p style="text-align: center;" data-p-id="a2c8e0b15f98e6ddfd838dbe242112ee"So now I'm writing a sequel./p  
p style="text-align: center;" data-p-id="213077f1aadbf62352f2267b33019d4b"This is a continuation from the first book on the same account. If you have not read the first book, I recommend you do./p  
p style="text-align: center;" data-p-id="2e3efc21602469c6b8b48c148b978d14"At the end of the last book, Stephen says goodbye to Tony, who went on a science camp for the entirety of the holidays. These holidays are the half-year holidays so now it is the second semester of their 9th year in high-school. I know I messed up by not putting an end-of-term holiday but just suck it up alright; sorry./p  
p style="text-align: center;" data-p-id="4bb4d57d6b5b021688128ad48a498ec6"strongDisclaimer/strong/p  
p style="text-align: center;" data-p-id="2bd573af22501a896002c58593477635"The avengers and its characters belong to Marvel and Stan Lee; as the content of this book will contain homosexuality, any and all homophobic comments will be deletedbr /without tolerance, 3 offenses and you will be blocked./p  
p style="text-align: center;" data-p-id="3298f13049d19cffaa37ca931dd4d421"strongRequests/strong/p  
p style="text-align: center;" data-p-id="c80af58dad7cfb91b32b5fa571179558"You can request anything you want to read./p  
p style="text-align: center;" data-p-id="5ddbc5185dd1f0ba997db77ad9dce5ce"strongI will not write;/strong/p  
p style="text-align: center;" data-p-id="1c4dba97508186241b6b8949f5e04791"smut/p  
p style="text-align: center;" data-p-id="70a5d255a4109da344424e6bc9bb40c0"suicide/p  
p style="text-align: center;" data-p-id="5ca7676bb2a24eff874dc8390ac8ed1e"self-harm/p  
p style="text-align: center;" data-p-id="8bdd226b4dd2f22082416cd4a9f307a4"crossovers/p  
p style="text-align: center;" data-p-id="93707f725009f066ecf17dd8f6409a66"strongtrailer/strong/p  
p style="text-align: center;" data-p-id="93707f725009f066ecf17dd8f6409a66" is annoying me so just search 'Kasha Works' for it I'm sorry/p  
p style="text-align: center;" data-p-id="93707f725009f066ecf17dd8f6409a66"Please check it out [before reading] I worked hard on it :)/p  
p style="text-align: center;" data-media-type="video" data-video-source="youtube" data-video-id="i03_oFEXg4s" data-preview-image=" vi/i03_ " data-p-id="af9d977292e829fc2cbf77b01d99af69"strongthanks/ /strongDJ/p 


	2. ONE: Seeing You Again

**"** tony stark made a slip-up, i won't forget that, **"**

**seeing you again**

_road trip_

Loki pulled himself out of his mother's everlasting hug and almost fell onto the pavement in front of the school. They were in year nine and the front of the school was full of cars and parents saying goodbye to their children for the three-day camp they were leaving on.

Loki didn't even think or glance to Odin, who was talking to Thor only a few meters away. Loki just grabbed his duffle bag and headed into the school after one more kiss from his mother. He crossed his fingers that she wouldn't do any more embarrassing things.

"Tell your lovely Wanda that I said hello!" she called after him. Loki paused, almost flushing ten shades of red.

He turned around slowly and gave his grinning mother a thumbs up before hurriedly sped walked inside.

As he entered the dumping ground for luggage which was right in front of the bus, he was greeted by a full-body hug from Wanda, who almost fell over the random lumps of bags everywhere. "Loki!"

He stepped back, still conscious about Wanda's hugging. "We saw each other yesterday,"

"So?" she grinned, looking back where Natasha and Clint were approaching.

"How's it going Lokes?" Clint greeted.

"Everything...normal as can be,"

Natasha crossed her arms. "There's going to be a traffic jam when the parents want to leave. If you ask me, I think they're glad we're going to be gone for three-days,"

"After a whole three-weeks of us at home, they should be," Clint laughed. "Although camp on the first day of school, that's new,"

"According to Sam, it's super fun and hard, so," Wanda shrugged. "It is Specialized Camp after all,"

The group simultaneously turned around as Steve, Sam, and Bucky found their way over the pile of bags to them.

"Back to school," Sam groaned, dumping his luggage onto the ground.

"It's camp, it's not that bad," Bucky rolled his eyes. Sam had been complaining all morning.

"The problem isn't camp, it's you being there too," Sam shot a deadly serious stare at Bucky before cracking up.

Steve gently put his bag down and looked at the group. "Has anyone seen Tony yet?"

"Nope," Natasha sighed. "I can't believe we haven't seen him since the bloody accident,"

"Yeah, the last time we saw him he was on a hospital bed with the weakest heart-beat," Wanda looked back at the gate, half expecting him to walk through.

"He'll be here, it's still pretty early," Loki assured the worried team.

He winced as Thor patted his back all of a sudden. "We shall be reunited again,"

The group agreed, entering a conversation as they waited for the time to come to board the bus. Loki glanced around the group. It hadn't been a long time since they saw each other. He'd caught up with Wanda a lot in the holidays and tagged along with Thor when he went to hang out with his friends. They had Wanda's birthday in the second week of the holidays and that was fun.

He was still getting used to Wanda. It had been a difficult process of them becoming a 'thing' and then the next day fight for their lives against gunmen. But the holidays were a good time to work things out and it was still working out.

His thought was drowned out by the sudden loud voices of the group as Loki suspected Tony entered the gate, as the group was yelling his name.

He turned around as the group began to run to him and Bruce, he approached with him. Wanda tugged on his arm. "Come on," Loki followed as Wanda jogged to them.

"How are you?"

"How're your holidays?"

"Was Tech Camp fun?"

"Did it hurt?"

"Clint!"

Tony ducked a bit from the overcrowdedness and gave an awkward smile. "It's...been fun. But not without you guys,"

"We missed you too," Natasha pulled him into another hug. "Next time don't lock your doors so we can't come in to say goodbye,"

Tony didn't answer but Bruce filled the silence. "Anyways, let's head to the bus so you guys can get good seats,"

"Oh yeah, you're not coming," Clint realized. "Damn it, I thought we'd have the whole group there,"

"If we were, I think the teachers would faint," Steve mentioned, as they made their way to the bus doors.

"You missed so much," Sam turned to Tony. "The holidays were crazy! Natasha pulled the all-time prank on one of her ex's who she found out was being a jerk to some girl in second-year, Clint almost got arrested, Wanda and Loki are dating, Steve stopped some Westwood kids from trashing and bullying some kids house, Bucky lost his arm like four times..."

"And I'm sure you had a great time, but no more shenanigans on this camp," Mr. Coulson approached from behind Sam. Sam gave a sheepish smile and stood beside Steve.

Coulson turned to the big group of Specialized Year 9 students. "Alright everyone, you guys can head onto one of the two buses in a calm manner," but his voice was cut off as everyone began to scramble into the buses to get the good seats. Coulson stood back in defeat. "This is going to be long three-days," he muttered, sipping his third cup of coffee that morning.

After a good long 13 minutes, the court was cleared of trained students and Coulson sighed at the sight of the many bags they had to put onto the buses. Some of the other chaperones were already putting the bags in the underside of the buses. Coulson walked over to help when he turned around to a series of running footsteps.

"Sorry, I'm late Mr Coulson," the familiar student gasped.

Coulson smiled. "It's fine, we're not leaving for another ten minutes at least. You can go inside Stephen,"

Stephen Strange, the wizard as his friends called him, stared at the two buses. If he would guess, one was filled with his friends and some lucky students, and the other would be filled with Hydra and some unlucky students. His eyes flickered between both.

"The left one," Bruce's voice came from behind him as he walked up to him. Stephen turned to his side. "The others went into the left one,"

Stephen smiled. "Thanks, I was getting worried there," he passed his bag to Coulson and began to head onto the bus.

"Oh, and Stephen," Bruce called after him. "Talk to him. He won't talk to you," Stephen stared at him before nodding.

He entered the bus, but it seemed he entered a battlefield. Balls of paper and something that looked like a sock were flying from each side of the bus to each end of the bus. He frowned, deflecting some that hit him. He ducked and made his way to the back, where he knew the others were.

"What's going on?" he tried to say through the noise, to Natasha, who was closest.

"Um, well something about 'that was my seat' to 'it was your fault they shot our school'," Natasha tried to explain. "I don't even know,"

Stephen stood up straight since at the back where his friends were, there was less fire. "Alright," he glanced around the seats. Loki and Wanda were sitting together, naturally. Steve and Bucky were sitting together, so was Sam and Thor. Clint and Natasha were sitting together, although it seems like they fought for the window seat.

His heart froze as he did the maths. Tony was the only one with a spare seat. He glanced at him, but Tony just turned away with an expression Stephen couldn't decipher just yet. Stephen pursed his lips before he turned back to Natasha. "Um, would you like to sit with Tony so I don't have to?"

Natasha raised her eyebrow at him. "What? And miss your chance to talk to him? No way," she grinned.

Stephen made a pouting face before walking down the aisle. "We saved you the seat," Sam whispered not-so-quietly.

Stephen paused once he reached Tony and the empty seat. "So, this is the only empty seat,"

"I can tell," Tony said, still staring out the window, watching Coulson try to lift Natasha's bag without one of her security traps opening upon him.

Stephen sat down, feeling uncomfortable. "So, how was Tech Camp,"

"It was fun. I had people I could talk to that could actually understand me," Tony shrugged.

Stephen smiled. "How are the wounds?"

"They don't hurt as much as before but I was told to not try too hard on this camp," Tony's eyes were still trained on Coulson now trying to pick up Clint's booby-trapped bag.

Stephen glanced his eyes to him. Even though he hadn't seen Tony for three weeks, he still looked like good-old Tony from the beginning of the year. If he wasn't ignoring him, then they would probably be bickering right now.

There was some awkward silence between them, with the blurred background noise of the fight at the front of the bus. Tony quickly glanced at Stephen, which ended up with both of them turning their heads away in full blush since Stephen was already staring at Tony.

On the side, Clint and Natasha were sneakily spying on them. "This is so pathetic, they're not talking to each other,"

"Well it would be awkward, right?" Clint shrugged.

Loki and Wanda, who were sitting in front of Natasha and Clint were trying to also spy on them but failed since their position made it hard for them to see. "What's going on?" Wanda whispered to Natasha.

"They're not talking to each other," Clint rolled his eyes, pulling out a magazine from his bag.

Loki took out his phone and began to text Stephen.

Write a message: talk to him

He pressed send and turned around to try and look at him.

Stephen's phone buzzed and he took it out. He glanced at the text notification and poked head out into the aisle where he found them staring at him. He shook his head at Loki and sat back down.

"Are they pestering you to talk to me?" Tony asked, still not looking at him.

"Yeah,"

"Bruce did the same to me," Tony stated. He took a quick glance at Stephen's phone. "By the way, the campsite is in the middle of nowhere so there's no signal anywhere,"

Stephen looked down at his phone. "Oh well. I guess that means they can't text me anymore. What a shame,"

Tony took out his phone. "I'm trying to create a router with my phone so we can have a signal. It's going to be hard since it's also got a 'No Phone' policy and a SHIELD security system that I created to be impenetrable,"

Stephen looked over to his phone screen where a bunch of coding and complicated stuff was. The normal phone couldn't hack a system as secure as SHIELD or become a router by hacking into the government satellite and towers, but Tony created and invented his phone, so it could do anything. "Impossible's your specialty isn't it," Stephen said, flickering his eyes back to the back of the seat in front of him.

"Well, I got you to blush, and everyone thought that was impossible," Tony muttered, almost inaudible.

Stephen frowned, ignoring the heat that returned to his face. "You also survived a should-be-fatal series of gun wounds, so I guess you do have a reputation of doing impossible things,"

This time Tony's face heated up, realizing Stephen heard him. "You heard that didn't you?" he whispered.

Stephen turned to him. "I hear everything, including your slip-ups,"

Tony frowned amusingly at him. "Except that, you don't hear my slip-ups because I don't have any,"

Stephen faced forward again. "I'd let you know that this a new scarf," he grinned.

Tony opened his mouth to reply but he just stared at Stephen, stuck on his own thoughts. "You will never forget that will you,"

"Tony Stark made a slip-up, I won't forget that," Stephen shrugged.

Tony rolled his eyes and sighed. His eyes looked outside the window. "Looks like Coulson finished moving the bags,"

"About time," Stephen looked at his watch.

On cue, Coulson entered the bus, which went silence. "Alright. This is a four-hour road trip to the campsite, so I hope you guys will behave. If you put on music, no music with swear words. Remember, school rules still do apply, no using your powers alright!" he looked tired already and it was just 9:30 am. "Oh and whoever booby-trapped their bags...well done, but don't do it next time?" He sighed and sat down at his seat at the front of the bus. The bus began to move out of the school.

The bus erupted into chatter again as people began to prepare for the four-hour bus ride. Loki brought a book, Tony had his phone to create a router, someone brought a super-mega-family pack of candy and chips that were being passed around.

Stephen glanced back at Tony, who was small enough to curl up in the nice seats the bus had. Tony had his phone out and was typing fast, his brain probably working faster. Stephen sighed and took out a book to read, knowing Tony wasn't going to talk to him.

**~ one hour ~**

Yells and arguing were heard in Natasha and Clint's section when Natasha had successfully slapped Clint fifty times.

"Slap taxi!" Clint was about to slap Natasha but she blocked it and made him headbutt the chair in front of him. "No fair!"

"Hey, you handcuffed me before," Natasha stuck her tongue out as her hand slapped him on the thigh as another taxi sped past.

Steve rolled his eyes as he ignored the yells from that section and the yells from his own section. Sam had stolen a candy bar from Bucky and Bucky was trying to get it back from across the aisle without taking his seatbelt off, which Steve told him not to since it was too dangerous.

"I've done more dangerous things, Steve!"

"Yeah, Steve!" Sam exclaimed, teasingly fiddling with the wrapper. Bucky flailed his arms at Sam's direction, barely reaching the seat. Steve frowned and looked outside the window to the nice field filled with cows.

"Let's play Slap-Cows!" Clint suggested, heard by everyone.

"No! There are millions of cows," Natasha answered.

"And? Slap-Taxi is for weaklings. Slap-Cows is for the tough kids," Clint said, which was the last thing that was heard on that side of the bus. A series of more yells and slap noises followed.

**~ three hours ~**

The bus was almost silent as most of the students had fallen asleep or were too tired to do anything loud and annoying. Coulson was happily sitting in the front, having a nap. Clint and Natasha had calmed down but only because Steve gave them extra candy.

Stephen had almost finished his book and his eyes were getting heavy. He almost dozed off before but Clint's screams kept waking him up. Now that he had calmed down, there was nothing stopping Stephen from falling asleep.

Except Tony beat Stephen to it. Stephen tensed as he felt Tony's head gently fall and rest onto his shoulder. Stephen pursed his lips and glanced over to him. Tony had fallen asleep and his phone lay on his open hand indicating he fell asleep against his will. Stephen breathed slowly, careful not to wake him and managed to get his arm around Tony to pick up his phone.

Stephen quietly placed Tony's phone in Tony's backpack which was at his feet and sighed as he lay back, letting Tony lean on him.

After a few minutes, Stephen felt the sun coming through the window force him to close his eyes and soon he lost consciousness.

"Shh-"

"I am shushing!"

A series of camera shutter clicks followed the hushed whispers of Loki and Natasha.

**~ four hours ~**

Tony's eyes snapped open as the loud voices of the bus erupted. Once Tony sat up and gained his thought again, he remembered where he was. His dazed eyes looked out of the window, seeing that they had arrived at the campsite.

He turned next to him, to find Stephen still asleep. He sighed and tried to wake him up. "Stephen," he whispered. "Stephennnn," Tony urged, shaking him a bit.

"Huh?" Stephen muttered groggily as he shook his head. "Where are we?"

"We've arrived," Tony replied, zipping up his bag, avoiding eye-contact with Stephen. He put two and two together and figured he must've slept on him.

The bus stopped and as Coulson stood up to give an announcement about leaving quietly and calmly but he was drowned out and pushed out of the way by students who began to run out. Coulson gave up and just sat down.

Tony turned to Stephen. "Care to move?" he asked, waiting for him to get up so they could leave.

Stephen clenched his jaw a bit before facing Tony. "Care to explain why you won't talk to me about what happened?"

Tony frowned, pausing. "What do you mean? About the shooting?"

Stephen sighed. "No, that night on the top of the tower," he bit his bottom lip, eyeing Tony.

Tony took a deep breath. "That. Right," he glanced away. "I..."

Stephen fiddled with the tassels on his scarf. "I mean, the shooting did kinda interrupt any discussion,"

Tony's chest settled a bit. "I know. I'm sorry-"

His voice was cut off by the yells and boo's of the others on the bus. Tony frowned and turned back around behind him, looking out of the window. Stephen looked over Tony's head.

The familiar colors of Westwood shone on the jackets of the Westwoods students gathered at the front of the camp.

"Westwood's here?" Clint's voice was heard.

"Ugh, we have to share this camp with them?" Complaints and arguments broke out. Coulson tried to calm them down but he just sighed and left the loud bus.

Tony and Stephen looked at each other. "Looks like we have some competition other than ourselves," Stephen said with a grin and a shine in his eye.

**vote, *request*, comment, & add to your library ;)**

**thanks/** DJ

this probably sucked i'm sorry


	3. TWO: Why We Almost Died

***note; if you aren't an agents of shield fan, it's ok if you don't understand the references or characters, they're not really important to the story [more just a character filler since there aren't many mcu characters that fit with this story]. if any reference is important, i will explain it so you guys understand [i.e; icers] thank you***

**"** It's like the teachers ship us or something,** "**

**why we almost died**

_a mission_

Of course, being the friend of one of the most popular kids in school, who also almost died, made Bruce more popular when they were away. The bus had left and Bruce entered school ready to start but he was cut off by immediate questions from a small circle of girls near the lockers.

"Is Tony alright?"

"Is his face okay?"

Bruce sighed. "He's totally fine,"

He managed to get through the busy locker hall and made it to homeroom where he placed his books on the table and sat down. His first-class would be Science with Clint and Sam, and it was not a good idea to have them together. For the most part, it was never a good idea to have any pairs from the group in the same class.

Except for that day, and for the next three days, neither Sam nor Clint was going to be present which meant that Bruce could actually learn something from the teachers instead of a book or the internet.

A small grin formed as he realized this. Even though all his friends were going to be gone, at least it would be peaceful. Especially since Hydra went with them. Bruce looked up in delight went the teacher entered, telling some other students near him to put their phones away.

As he began to put some stuff on the board, an announcement bell rung, followed by the familiar voice of Ms Hill. "Can Bruce Banner please make his way to Fury's office, please? Bruce Banner?"

Bruce clenched his hands. It was the first day of school, why was he being sent to the principles office? Perhaps Clint or something put a snake in someone's locker and now he had to answer for it since he was in their acquaintance.

'Even gone they get in trouble,' Bruce sighed, hauling his pile of books of the table and walked out, ignoring the usual stares from the class. He sped through the halls to the office. The quicker he did this, the quicker he could go and learn something.

He made it to Fury's office and placed his books on the chair outside and knocked on the door.

"Come in," Fury's deep voice answered. Bruce walked in and sat down on the couch he and his friends had sat in for most of the first year. Fury crossed his hands. "What do you know about this school, Bruce?"

Bruce thought for a bit before answering the odd question. "Well, this school was founded twenty years ago by Howard Stark and you. It was made to teach and train young people to be able to protect themselves and those who cannot protect themselves," he remembered from the History book he'd read.

Fury nodded. Even though the space between them, from the couch to the desk, was about a meter, Bruce would see the malice in Fury's eyes. There were rumours he met aliens or some in his previous years and the reason there were no aliens was because Fury took care of them. It was obviously not true but it still made Bruce uncomfortable.

Fury seemed to take a breath and picked up a pen. "This school, SHIELD, is also a secret organization that really only higher authorities know about. Like you, and other students who are not specialized, when they graduate will have a spot in the organization if they wish.

"The organization is mostly for alien or high extreme threats,"

Bruce stared at him. "RIght, aliens,"

"Although currently, we are dealing with a very human problem,"

"What sort?" This was completely new news to Bruce, about SHIELD being more than a school since siblings of some previous graduates did spread rumours about their siblings going to some secret organization.

Fury looked at him in the eye. "I'll show you," he lifted the lamp on the side of the desk and pressed a form of finger scanning button.

Bruce suddenly felt light and then the couch- no, the floor fell, with the desk. The whole room seemed to go down, like an elevator. After a second, Bruce's body adapted to the change of speed and he gaped at Fury. "This is a secret room? I've sat here so many times and I never noticed-"

"Secret base to be more correct," Fury stood up, motioning to the sidewall which had opened up and revealed rows of tables with advanced Stark computers, with other things that made a base. "One of SHIELDS most secure secret bases,"

"Under our school?!" Bruce walked out, looking around in amazement.

"Correct. And we think maybe someone had found it,"

Bruce looked up at his principle in confusion. "What to do you mean?" he followed Fury down a hallway. They stopped for a bit, as they entered another enormous room which had a bright blue glowing thing inside. Bruce frowned at it a bit. "This is Tony's Arc reactor," he realized.

Fury nodded, turning to him. "Howard used Tony's design to create this a couple of years ago. It powers our whole school and the base, so of course, it would emit a lot of signals and powers on people scanners,"

"Well, Tony made a cloaking device for that sorta thing a while back you could ask him if- oh..." Bruce realized. "He made it for Tech Class. Did you really get him to make it for SHIELD?"

Fury nodded. "Yes. We didn't want to let him know yet. We do avoid letting students know,"

"Why me then?"

Fury sighed. "We fear someone has managed to trace back to this power source and wants it. It's harder to get it from Tony and I can see why. They must have not known it was him when they shot him,"

Bruce's eyes flickered up. "Shot him? Wait, you mean those guys who shot our school- who shot Tony- that was because they wanted this thing?!"

Fury nodded. "They were trying to find it. Obviously, they didn't. But we have figured out that for them to have been able to enter, they would've needed an access card, which only school teachers or students have. There were no signs of a hack,"

Bruce realized where this was going. "They would've had a card to get through all the doors. But who would have given them the card, or lost it? Wouldn't the system recognize the bar code thus the student?"

"Yes, but they managed to create a tangle in the system, so any identification of who the card belonged to was erased," Fury explained.

"We could get Tony to try and see-"

"We already did, which a different story though so he doesn't know the full story. He couldn't get it done, says his security system is too hard for even him to crack," Fury turned back to the big arc reactor. "Someone in this school gave them their card which means someone in this school is working with them. Whoever wants this won't be using it to make toast, I can assure you,"

"So you want me to like, see if I can find who?" Bruce tried to piece together the reason why he was there.

"No. I want you to choose some of your friends to spy and find them," Fury handed in a box of files on each of his friends. "Your friends or friend circle are the highest scoring group in the school, even outstanding the higher levels. Unlike you, most of them have been trained in combat and other skills. You are more of a Science Division sort of person. Don't get me wrong, you will be useful, but I'm sure we can both agree you won't be great for this job,"

Bruce nodded. "Yeah, I know. So what do you want me to do with these files?" he looked down at the box.

"You know your friends better than anyone. With the help of those files, which are all of their reports and analyses, I want you to choose a small team, a small group of people to do the job,"

"To spy on our classmates? Don't you have better and more professional agents to do this?" Bruce asked, sceptical of the whole operation.

"We do, but we need someone who can blend in and be trusted by said classmates. I'm sure you understand?" Fury raised his eyebrow.

Bruce looked at the ground. "Yes, sir,"

"Excellent. You have three days to choose and then we'll inform them about this mission. Do not tell them about this beforehand, secrecy is imperative," Fury crossed his arms. "You are probably looking forward to some peaceful classes, you can leave. Agent Gem will escort you out,"

Bruce nodded and followed the darkly dressed man lead him out of the seemingly complex base that lay underneath the school. He wrapped his arms around the box of files and sighed.

So much for a peaceful three days.

**...SceneChange...**

Of course, the uproar following the new discovery of the news about Westwood wasn't pretty. Coulson barely managed to stop them from attacking Westwood.

"We are both Specialized schools, what do you expect?" Coulson reasoned. It didn't convince a lot of the students but after a bit, they calmed down and headed glumly to the cabins to look at the cabin pairing sheets.

Which quickly turned from glum to ecstatic and became a race to the other side to find out who they'd be in sharing a cabin with for the next two nights.

"Get out of my way!"

"I'm on the other side of the field!"

"You're still in my way!"

"Shut up Clint!"

The group made their way passed the over piling crowd and managed to squeeze through the gaps to peer at the cabin-mates sheet.

Natasha skimmed down the page. "Phew, thank god,"

"You're with your friends?" one of the other students asked.

Natasha looked at them with a face. "What? No. I mean yes, but I'm just relieved none of my friends is with some of Hydra, otherwise I'd have to stop them from committing murder," she grinned at the responding horrified faces.

Tony had weaved himself through and read down the list to find all relevant names.

Room 1; Sharon Carter, Wanda Maximoff, Melinda May **[Agent Of Shield Anyone?],** Natasha Romanov.

Room 6; James Barnes, Clint Barton, Thor Odinson, Steve Rogers.

Room 7; Loki Odinson, Tony Stark, Stephen Strange, Sam Wilson.

"What-?!" Tony exclaimed, staring at his name next to Stephen's. He quickly glanced around, quieting down after noticing the odd stares from another year 9's. "Seriously?" he whispered to himself, stepping away from the list.

"Relax, it's not that bad. You can sleep on the other side of the room. Plus, I don't want to be woken up in the middle of the night," Sam rolled his eyes.

Tony frowned. "What are you implying?"

"You know what," Sam smirked, walked off to Steve.

Tony sighed and roughly picked up his bag from the pile in annoyance as he headed to Room 7.

The door was already open and Loki was in there enchanting the front door with Stephen complaining about how he was using the wrong spell. Tony walked in but before he could take in the atmosphere of the room, his bag flew away from him and hit the wall.

"What the hell?" Tony spun around to Loki who was on the top bunk leaning over the doorway.

"Sorry! The spell hasn't finished properly yet," Loki apologized.

Stephen shrugged and bent down to pick up Tony's duffel bag. He paused as he was about to pass it to him. The zip was open a bit and Stephen noticed a photo frame inside with a picture of the group in what he presumed was from their first year.

Tony's eyes flickered as he realized Stephen saw it and snatched it off him. Stephen opened his mouth to say something but decided not to. Instead, he just turned to the bunk behind him. "There's an empty bed above me but you can go under Loki if you want. I'm sure Sam won't mind,"

Tony turned his head away. "I'll go under Loki," he closed the zip on his bag properly and chucked onto the bottom bunk. Before one of them could say anything, the three of them looked out the door as an announcement began to play out.

"Everyone should have already dropped their bags off, so can students of Shield and Westwood make their way to the main seating area? Thank you," Tony silently headed out, determined to avoid Stephen as much as he could these three days.

The seating area wasn't hard to find, it was in the middle of the cabins, which were placed in a circle shape with all the doors facing inwards to the seating area. One of the buildings that made up the circle that surrounded the bunch of picnic tables was the kitchens and indoor eating area.

Tony walked over to the table that his friends were on. They took up two tables so Thor had moved one of the picnic tables over to join the other one. Tony swore he saw Wanda help Loki, who had already gotten there, jinx the tables so only they could sit on it.

"So those bloody Westwood kids don't steal our table," was Clint's reply to why they were putting up enchantments and booby-traps on literally everything they came across.

Tony just rolled his eyes and sat on the table without Stephen on it, with Steve, Sam, Bucky, and Natasha. He sat on the table sideways and placed his legs on the seating part, facing the middle of the circle of tables where one of the Camp runners stood.

"Alright," he began. "I'm Joe and this is Anthony," he nodded behind him to where two other people stood, probably other camp counsellors. "We are brothers and we created this camp to mentally, physically, and for some of you, magically, challenge you," he looked around to everyone.

His brother stood forward. "This camp is filled with fun activities and courses that specialize in all of those three subjects. Some of the harder ones you will do in your day groups throughout this series of days you have with us, with adult supervision," Coulson sipped his seventh cup of coffee that day. Anthony continued. "Some of the smaller ones, that aren't as dangerous, you can do by yourself as they are spread out around this campus. Although, we would have to ask you to be respectful and aware,"

Joe added on. "This is a large campus and we ask for you to stay within the fence. The kitchens and eating area is right over there. A reminder that no girls in the boy's rooms and no boys in the girl's room for obvious reasons,"

"Murder," Natasha muttered under her breath.

The other person standing with them, a girl probably fresh out of school, stood forward with Anthony. "And just a notice, most of you probably have your phones with you. You can use them, but we will not be responsible for any losses or damages. Also, there is a cut-off service system in place, so no internet or phone calls for anyone unless there's an emergency. This is a time for bonding with your classmates and working together,"

Joe nodded. "Thank you, Okoye," he took out some papers that were tucked under his arm. "Alright, what you've been waiting for, your day groups," He looked down at them. "Okay, group one is, Steve Rogers, James Barnes, Thor Odinson, Wanda Maximoff, Clint Barton, Malekith Accursed," he continued on with list with other students.

"Group two is Natasha Romanoff, Sharon Carter, Sam Wilson, Loki Odinson," he listed some more from Westwood, with a groan from Tony when he heard the name 'Justin Hammer'.

"I forgot he was in Westwood," he muttered.

Joe ignored the comment and snickers and continued. He began with some Westwood students first. "...Than Alarson, and Everett Ross. Finally, Stephen Strange, and Tony Stark from Shield,"

"Are you kidding me?" Tony grumbled, crossing his arms.

"It's like the teachers ship us or something," Stephen sighed, on the other table.

By some miracle, Coulson managed to silence the students after they erupted into a conversation. Joe thanked Coulson and turned back to face the students. "Okay, group one is going to the rope's course with Okoye, group two to the escape rooms with Anthony, group three to the obstacle course with Coulson and Alexander Peirce, another camp counsellor, and group four to the fear stimulations with me,"

"You can go to the camp counsellors in your groups now," Anthony finished, just in time as the students began to talk and gather into groups, not the day groups but their friend groups to complain about the day groups.

"Go to your day groups!" Coulson exclaimed through a megaphone.

**vote, comment, request, and add to your library**

***sorry for the short chapter***

**thanks/** DJ


	4. THREE: Obstacles

**"** you can continue your little gossip session while we continue to crack this puzzle, **"**

**obstacles**

_regrets_

Tony slumped off the tables and headed to where Coulson was breaking up an almost-fatal fistfight between a Westwood and Shield. As he headed there, Nat crossed him, whispering "Talk to him, Tony," in his ear. He rolled his eyes and frowned at her as he crossed his arms to stand next to Coulson's group. The only people in Shield in his group was Stephen, so he didn't have many options for people to hang out with.

He eyed Stephen as he approached. Stephen noticed and changed his direction, instead of heading to Tony, he stood on the other side of Group Six's huddle, near some Westwood students.

Tony pursed his lips and looked at the floor. He barely had time to think about the situation when Coulson's megaphone blared out, calling them to follow Mr Pierce who had begun to walk down a trail. He hurriedly sped after the group, losing Stephen in the crowd. Not that he 'cared' of course. Tony looked away from the group, bashful.

Whereas Tony was stuck at the end of the line, trying not the get stuck in between Than and his buddies, Stephen wasn't having a too mad time at the front of the line. After observing Westwood since they arrived, he decided that there were three types of Westwood students.

One, being students like Than, all about bullying and power. Then there were the arrogant, not like him and Tony's arrogant. More like 'willing to cheat and then when they win they boast like they won a Nobel prize' arrogant. Third, and definitely not least, thought Stephen, was the 'pretty alright' type. He personally only knew one person from this group and it was the girl named Val, who helped Natasha take down some Westwood bullies. But from observations, he noticed a couple of Westwood students in Group Six, and in general, that was shyer and less 'out in the open'. Probably due to the amount of toxicity in Westwood.

The trail Group Six was walking on towards the obstacle course was a bit wonky and full of roots growing in all directions. Stephen stepped over a rather big root but seemed to miss another small one as almost fell.

Thanks to a Westwood, who was walking silently beside him, who caught his arm and propped him back up again.

"Thanks," Stephen said to him, his cheeks flushed from the exercise he was getting.

The Westwood grinned. Stephen smiled. "I'm Everett Ross, but you can call me Ross," the Westwood introduced.

"Stephen Strange," Stephen said in response, stepping over more roots.

"I know. You're pretty famous in Westwood. Alongside the other Avengers of course," Ross shrugged as they continued down the path.

"Famous? In a good or bad way?"

"Both," Ross looked over to him. "For Than and all those popular kids, in a bad way. You're a big target,"

"That's nice to know," Stephen glanced behind him nervously, spotting Than laughing with his friends.

"But for us, me and my level of people, you're pretty much a hero," Ross added. Stephen looked at him in confusion. Ross laughed. "I mean, you're really smart. You've challenged Tony Stark, you have a reputation,"

Stephen found himself smiling. Normally he wasn't the cool kid or someone people liked. Normally he was called a freak **[sherlock reference ;(]**, or more insulting things than a 'wizard'. Even Tony hadn't yet gotten to properly admire him yet, especially since he was inferior, which Stephen agreed to anyway. Ross was different.

Stephen looked at Ross, who had faced the front again, so he wouldn't trip over a root. He seemed pretty simple. Stephen deduced that he wasn't an Enhanced, but not so explicitly a Specialized since he wasn't buff or anything.

"What?" Ross asked, frowning at Stephen.

Stephen glanced away. "Nothing. I was just thinking,"

"About?"

"...uh, the enhanced,"

"You're an enhanced right?"

"Yeah,"

"That's really cool!"

Tony managed to weave himself through the line, even avoiding Than when they were distracted by a funny looking root. He almost made it to the front, when he slowed down a bit so he wouldn't surprise Stephen. Instead, he saw him speaking to a Westwood.

Tony opened his mouth in surprise. A Westwood. Tony continued walking with the group. He also seemed happy. Like he was enjoying it. Enjoying talking to a Westwood? Over him?

_'To be fair, you did technically tell him not to talk to you,' _Tony reminded himself, regretfully. He almost bumped into the person in front of him when the group stopped. He poked his head out of the side to see what was in front of them.

There was a long line of difficult and dangerous-looking obstacle course made up of black metal and ropes. **[a bit like a american ninja warrior but with different courses. the same idea.]** There were mutters and talking between them. Tony looked up when Alexander Pierce began to talk.

Tony didn't like Alexander Pierce. He was a friend of his father and was part of the Shield and this camp's partnership. He was very biased and favoured Hydra and probably Westwood. Tony sighed.

"This is the obstacle course. I'm glad everyone is wearing good clothes because you will get a bit messy," Mr Pierce exclaimed, in his luxury tux suit. "This course is around one kilometre long and filled completely with challenges. You are allowed to use your enhancements or specialized skills but if you can fly, you aren't allowed to use that advantage,"

Tony groaned. It would've been so much easier if he could use his boosters.

"Also, no hurting each other, there shouldn't be any foul play. This is an individual challenge. This also means no alliances. Halfway through the challenges become harder and you will need a partner to assist you. Then, you can use your alliances. But remember, they can betray you. So be careful. This is a race-"

But that was he could say before everyone rushed to the first one and began to brawl for the first go. Coulson headed to the truck to follow them, already getting the first aid kit ready.

**...SceneChange...**

Natasha avoided the other girls in her group. She normally didn't do this, but all of them were toxic. Sharon was trying to get recruited into the small group of girls in Group Two, who Natasha knew tried to flirt with Clint to steal his five-inch knife, but was failing. Instead, she tagged along with Loki and Sam.

"Shame that Val was in Group Four. None of us was in it," Loki fumed, disapproving one of the other Westwood students as they carved'2 cool 4 school' on a tree.

"Now we're stuck with these guys," Sam sighed. The group stopped inside a room, which had black walls and neon lighting.

Anthony, their supervisor, turned around to face them and began to talk. "This is our escape rooms. You, as a group, will try to escape it. It is very hard, so you will need to work together to escape. If you don't, well there isn't a time limit so you'll be stuck in there together for a long time,"

One of the Westwood's raised their hand. "What if one of those Shield students cheat by using their powers?"

"Well, they aren't permitted to use their powers so there won't be any cheating. Either way, it would still be beneficial to you since you will be a team. But no Enhancement Advantages are allowed for this activity," Anthony quickly added in the end, just in case they didn't listen properly.

"Activity? More like a prison," muttered Sam as Anthony led them into a darker pitch-black room.

Anthony waited until everyone entered. "Good luck," he called through and shut the door. As they heard the door click as it locked, people began to start talking loudly. They went silent for a bit as the lights flashed on. The room was in an eighteenth-century style of a living room. It had a dining table on the side, a piano and fireplace on the other, bookshelves and other bits of furniture along with a carpet.

After a few moments of silence, everyone erupted into a mixture of panic and annoyance.

Loki clenched his hands. He didn't want to be stuck in here for hours, and at this point, they were going to be. He pulled out a chair and stood onto it. "Everyone!" No one paid attention except for Sam and Nat. "Everyone listen!" Loki yelled louder. People slowly quietened down.

"What?" called one Westwood, followed by some laughter as if it were the funniest joke of the year.

"We won't get anywhere if we don't work together. We need to work together, and talking about and complaining isn't going to accomplish anything," he said firmly.

**[mild transphobia insult warning?]** "Why should we listen to a two-faced girl?" snickered the same Westwood from before. A laugh followed, but less 'funny' than last time- if it could be 'less funny'.** [end of mild transphobia insult]**

Loki swallowed. He didn't react, it would be pointless. Instead, he responded with; "At least both my faces are better than yours. And you use 'girl' as a derogatory term but I'm pretty sure your test papers have fewer marks than all of them and that they look ten times better than you." Whispers of amusement rippled through the crowd. He glared at the Westwood oaf. "Plus, I doubt you'd be useful anyways so you can continue your little gossip session while we continue to crack this puzzle,"

The Westwood didn't answer and looked away in annoyance but didn't answer back.

Loki sighed and turned his attention back to his little audience. "Alright, first we need to find something, a clue- anything. Just look everywhere," he hopped off the chair and glanced at Natasha and Sam who had proud and amused faces.

Natasha playfully punched him. "Thanks for the compliments," she grinned.

**...SceneChange...**

Clint stuck close with Steve, Bucky, Thor, and Wanda. He wasn't scared of Malekith or the sudden overflow of other Westwood's in his group. He just wasn't too sure of Okoye, who seemed very strong and threatening. Clint already had his fair share of scary can powerful women, being friends with Natasha and all and knew all they needed was to be treated with respect but he had just witnessed her absolutely trash a Westwood for littering and Clint didn't want to be next.

"Clint, what's wrong? Why are you cowering behind Bucky?" Wanda asked, falling behind the others to be at his level.

Clint jumped out, walking normally. "Nothing. I just rather not be in talking range with Okoye,"

"What, are you scared?" Wanda grinned.

"No! I just don't want to get in trouble,"

Wanda shrugged. "Same thing. I thought you'd be used to the whole look with Natasha,"

Clint began to walk normally. "I am. Just this is different," he crossed his arms, remembering his freak out before the holidays about his so-called 'feelings'. He shook his head to disagree with himself. He had managed to ignore his thoughts throughout the entirety of the holidays but now that he was here again at school with Natasha, he needed another way to escape this endless spiral without losing his best friend.

"Different? How?" Wanda frowned. "It can't be different, they're both really strong and intimidating people,"

"Well, I'm comfortable with one of them, so,"

Wanda gave a smirk. "Right,"

Clint paused as he recognized the tone. "Hold on...what do you mean by that 'right'?"

Wanda swayed a bit. "Oh, you know..." she shot him a glance. "The wonderful delights of being friend-zoned,"

"I have not been friend-zoned!" Clint exclaimed indignantly. "Not yet of course," he rubbed his arm, averting his eyes.

Wanda gave a small laugh. "I'm sure she'll come through, you mean a lot to her so,"

"Her birthday is coming up, I can't think of what to get her," Clint began, kicking the stones of the path they were walking on.

Wanda jumped over a log. "What have you normally given her in the past?"

"Well, there was that one year I got her a hidden sheath for a knife, then that time with night-vision goggles, and then the neutralizer gun, thanks to the help of Tony...and of course! The super-advanced security system for her bedroom,"

Wanda eyed him in worry. "Right...how about something nice this time? Like normal...and pretty!"

"Like...a dress that has rocket boosters inside?"

Wanda frowned t him. "No, I mean like a bracelet or a ring?"

Clint pouted. "Hmm, okay,"

"And maybe if you want, you can confess your feelings for her!"

Clint shook his head. "Nope, never," he hopped away to Thor, hoping to have a different conversation.

Wanda sighed and walked alongside Bucky and Steve.

"Malekith is the only Hydra in our group and he's befriending Westwood. This isn't good," Steve observed.

"Well, he wouldn't befriend us," Bucky mentioned. "How hard do you think the rope course will be?"

"It can't be too hard right?" Wanda asked, worried about her physical ability. "I used to suck at them,"

As Steve was about to reply, they were stopped by Okoye and the sudden view of the rope course. It didn't look easy, the course itself was about fifteen metres high, with no net underneath, and the obstacles didn't look too pleasing either.

Everyone began talking at once, but they were cut off by Okoye's called. They all shut up and stared at her.

"You all must be used to rope courses and are bored of them by now. Don't worry, because all humans have an instinct fear of heights and this one is high and daunting. Note that you are allowed to use your enhancements if you have any, and there are some objects- or say weapons, that can be used to your advantage if you wish. Think carefully about choosing which one.

"Using your Enhancements, or objects can only be used to assist you, and not harm or be in the way others. You may help each other, if you wish, or disorientate, but not maim. Basic combat is allowed. Please understand that because there isn't a hospital within ten kilometres," she seemed amused by the horrified faces of the group. "I'm kidding, there's a small one a few blocks away for this very reason. Also, there are no harnesses. Come here, I'll show you the objects that can assist you into not falling down," she walked forward, closer towards one of the support poles of the course.

"Did she say there aren't any harnesses?" Wanda asked, making sure.

Okoye looked at her. "Yes, not harnesses. In real-life situations, rarely are there harnesses. Also, if your enhancements include flying, you aren't allowed to use that particular aspect of it,"

Wanda turned white. "Okay, I was kind of depending on that part,"

"Don't worry. We're allowed to help each other so we'll make sure none of us falls down," Steve assured, turning his attention to the board that Okoye just opened, revealing a bunch of items.

She looked at the group. "This the collection of items you're allowed to use. Remember, there are tokens at the end of each part of the course, at each obstacle in the course, which you can only receive after completing it. The person with the highest amount of tokens in the shortest time wins and _won't _clean up the dishes at dinner,"

"Okay..." Clint frowned. His eyes lit up when he spotted a bow and arrow. He edged closer to it, as he only saw one of them.

Okoye smiled. "As I said, you can help each other, whether that is helping each other cross a course or making sure they don't fall down but remember that you can be betrayed. The middle support pole has a couple of ways to go up. Once I blow this horn you can grab an item, one each, and then it's everyone for themselves,"

Without any warning, she picked up an airhorn and squeezed it. The horn blared out the screams and yells of the students as they realized it had commenced. Clint dived for the bow and the singular arrow connected. He felt someone else grab it but he managed to twist it out of their grasp and ran off.

He had lost sight of his friends but currently, his priority was to climb the pole. The pole was about 200 metres away so as he ran he inspected the bow. There was a singular arrow attached by a rope to the bow. He sighed.

He approached the pole which was swarmed by the rest of the group. He would never get up there in time or at least not last. He looked around the course. Someone had begun to do one of the courses that were leading off the main pole.

He spotted a sturdy beam coming off it, and an idea popped into his head. He grabbed the bow and arrow as he ran underneath the wooden beam. He shot upwards without a second glance and the arrow hit the beam. The rope dangled down, where Clint grabbed it and begun to climb it.

By the time he got to the top, the pole had slightly cleared up a bit. He took out the arrow and used the rope to pull the bow back up. He was on a different part of the course but near the main platform so he crawled towards it.

Whereas Clint managed to get to the top with any injuries, the other four didn't have as much luck. Steve had managed to help Wanda get to the top but now some Westwood kid was hogging up most of the access points and Bucky and Steve were stuck.

They had to 'disorient' them by giving them a light attack to be able to climb up, but not without a fight back. Bucky had a bruise on his cheek and Steve got a small cut on his arm. Thor had gotten up earlier and was holding back some angry Westwood's from a course so the others could get there.

There was allowed more than one person on a course at a time, and of course, Westwood was trying to push one another off it, and Thor was protecting one course so they could get at least one token without becoming a pancake.

The rest of them jogged to where Thor knocked a Westwood out of the way with the end of his 'help' item; a kusarigama, which was a handle that had a chain coming out of it with a hook blade on the end** [google it for reference if you wish]**. "Come on, before you fall off,"

Wanda went first. The course was pretty simple- if you had a harness that is. There was just a rope that went to the next platform with a couple of ropes, with hoops at the end, dangling down about a metre apart each. If you missed or let go, you fell off.

Wanda swallowed. They did a similar thing back in Combats class, but it was much lower and closer together. She jumped to the first one, clinging onto the rope. Her hands almost slipped, giving her some rope burn but her leg stopped her from slipped all the way down by locking it into the small hoop.

"Go to the next one," Steve called, through the slightly windy air.

Wanda tried to reach the next one without any luck. She tried swinging but the wind pulled the other one in the other direction. She sighed and stuck out her hand, her eyes beginning to glow a transparent scarlet.

The same glow surrounded the ropes and the rope went to her hand. She grinned and grabbed it, swinging forward. She instantly grabbed the next one. She glanced back, where Steve was aiming to jump to the first one as she cleared it.

As he jumped, a gust of wind blew and the rope dangled out of the way. Wanda quickly glared at the rope, which began to glow red and went to Steve, who caught it.

"Thanks," he gasped, clinging onto the cold rope.

This was going to be a long day.

**vote, comment, request, and add to your library**

**thanks/** DJ


	5. FOUR: Dangerous

**" **Are you sure you aren't just coming out?** "**

**dangerous**

_first time _

Tony felt the hardwood underneath his knees. He wanted to collapse in exhaustion and just have a nice warm bath. It had, unfortunately, begun to rain earlier and the dirt ground had become mud. Tony's shoes were messy and his legs were tired from pulling them out of the mud.

He had just pulled himself over a wall on the obstacle course and had reached the top, on all fours. He glanced behind him. He wasn't last but he wasn't first. His eyes searched for Stephen, who he found still trying to climb the wall and was almost at the top. Tony stood up, his clothes wet but his body hot, staring.

The Westwood that was walking with him earlier had just reached the top and turned around to lend Stephen a hand. Tony continued to stare, not sure if his fast-beating heart was caused just from the eight hundred metres worth of obstacles or if it was Stephen's red face when he also almost collapsed on the top.

"Move it slow-poke," a different Westwood smirked, shoving Tony as he passed. Tony slipped on the wet wood and tumbled down the other side of the wall, which was just a slope. At the bottom was a waist-deep pool of thick mud and Tony fell face-first into it.

As he stood up properly and rubbed all the mud he could off his face, he watched as Stephen swiftly skid down the slope with the brunette Westwood that Tony was beginning to get tired of. Tony shook his head and continued to push his way through the mud. The pit was about ten metres long and it took what seemed forever to cross it.

Once Tony made it to the other side, he pulled himself onto the platform. He was almost to the end. He looked up, to see Stephen and his seemingly newfound friend approaching close behind. Tony stood up harshly and began to sprint off the platform to the next course. He wasn't going to let Stephen beat him in this.

Tony made it out of breath to the next obstacle. It was about five metres high with a deep mud pit underneath that had a bunch of Westwoods flailing about after falling in. The obstacle was simple, the was one platform, which Tony was on, and another about fifteen metres away that had a bunch of chains with wood circles on the ends dangling off another chain that connected the two platforms. Basically, you had to jump from one chain to the next, like Tarzan. Except that the vines were metal chains, wet, and slippery.

Tony took a deep breath and activated his gauntlets. The metal crawled up to his forearm and he held one of his arms up. He couldn't use his boosters but that didn't mean he couldn't use his armour.

"Activate magnet," he asked his developing A.I., which replied by the palm of the gauntlet opening to reveal a metal circle. It activated and the first chain in front of Tony began to bend towards him, until it immediately hit his palm, connected.

A Westwood, that had managed to get to the third chain, got distracted that he missed the next one, falling into the mud pit. Tony grinned and held the chain even though he knew it would still hold him if he let go. As he jumped off the platform and swung forward he held out his other hand which attracted the next chain, which instantly connected itself. Once Tony got hold of it, he let go the other one. It was a continuous routine until he got to the end.

It was only until he let go and his gauntlets disappeared when he realized he was the only one there. Even the other students that were in the lead was now in the pit behind him. Tony smirked, knowing he was first. As he turned to complete the last course he caught the gaze of Stephen on the other platform, and then Tony slipped off the platform and fell into the mud again.

Stephen almost laughed in amusement when Tony caught him staring at him and then fell off the platform, but Stephen stopped himself. He needed to find a way to the other side. Westwoods had shoved passed him to try again but falling off shortly.

The Westwood in which he met earlier, Ross, was standing beside him, trying not to fall off the platform as other Westwoods pushed them around. "Got any idea on how to cross? I haven't the faintest,"

Stephen stared at the entire obstacle. There wasn't really any alternatives like the rigged monkey bars that had some bars that would retract away, where you could climb on top of it and balance on it like a beam.

Stephen thought of his magic. It could help...he just had to figure out how. The wooden circles at the end of the chains weren't particularly helpful, if you stepped onto one side it would just flip vertical and you would slip off. "I have an idea," he stated, looking at Ross.

"Go on," he replied.

Stephen did some motions with his hands and a glowing orange long-chain appeared in his hands. He passed it to Ross and then made another one for himself. "Use this to loop over the chain that connects the two platforms and then jump off. It'll do the same thing as a flying fox,"

"Wouldn't the dangling chains stop us?" Ross frowned.

"Yes, but these are longer so we'll go under them," Stephen explained. "I'll go first,"

He stepped forward, cutting off an annoyed Westwood and threw one side of the chain to the other side and caught it as it fell. He held both tightly and jumped off. The sloping obstacle did its job and he flew down to the next platform.

It worked.

Stephen turned around to face Ross, who was coming down. He smiled but then frowned. Ross was coming down fast. He stopped concentrating and the chains disappeared. Luckily, Ross was already at the end, but he flew forward and bumped into Stephen.

Their lost balances combined with the wet wood, they both fell into the mud on the other side of the platform.

"Sorry!" Everett exclaimed, sitting up and realizing he fell on top of Stephen.

"It's fine," he wriggled out from under Ross and wiped off the mud on his face, aware of his face that was flushing different shades of red from either the adrenaline rush of the fact he had a guy on top of him.

Tony, who had reached the end, saw the Westwood fall onto Stephen. An unknown- well not unknown to Tony, who had experienced jealously whenever Stephen got a higher grade than him, except it wasn't really jealousy more arrogant anger so it was still unknown- an unknown feeling had crept into him. Tony clenched his fist. The Westwood wouldn't be able to have gotten over unless he had Stephen's help.

He was most likely using Stephen to his advantage. Tony bit his lip in almost remorse.

"Do you want to go shower? Better if you do so all the hot water isn't taken," Coulson advised. Tony nodded.

As he headed off, he passed Mr Pierce who whispered to him; "You cheated didn't you? All Starks do,"

Tony glared at him. "I used my Enhancement to my advantage, as you allowed. I didn't fly, did I," he stalked off. '_I'm nothing like my father'._

**...SceneChange...**

Malekith pretty much used the knife he got as his item to cut off the ropes to access the easiest obstacle and did it over and over again to get easy tokens.

Clint crossed his arms in annoyance. They had done about six obstacles each and they almost died eight times each.

"You got it," Steve encouraged as Bucky tried to get from one side of the flying fox to the other. It would be easy except another Westwood took off the handle and dropped it. Bucky was using Thor's item to ride it. Thor almost accidentally decapitated Bucky when he threw it back to the platform.

"How many do the others have?" Wanda asked, rubbing her sore hands.

"Everyone has about four except Malekith who has like sixteen," Steve answered, helping Bucky onto the platform.

"Let's head back, I honestly don't care if we have to do the dishes. I'd rather not die," Wanda sighed, balancing on the edge of the platform to see how to get down. The middle main pole that had actual ladder-like things to get up and down and been diactivated since they had to find their own way down.

"Agreed. Here," Clint stuck his arrow on a beam and then tied it up, the rope dangling down. He held the rope and then slipped down it.

Wanda went next, a bit slower but made it down in one piece. Steve went next until all of them made it down. They were the first to have given up but except for Malekith, had the most tokens.

It was coincidental that they went down then because the course hit level four. During the time they were doing it, the course had hit the other levels. The first being the loss of the main pole. The second, there was an artificial strong wind blowing through the entire course. Level three had the poles shake. It didn't help that it began to rain after a bit.

But the level four was impossible from the group's view. Each obstacle shifted and then moved to another pole (like the Hogwarts stairs) and paused for a while. The shook on the Westwood's faces were priceless when the course they were on moved to another platform. After a few minutes, when the Westwood's felt safe to continue, the courses shifted moved again, to another platform.

"It moves every five minutes," Okoye stated when one student almost fell off. The five were glad they went down when they did. With the combination of moving poles, courses, wind and rain with no way to get down, doing the dishes didn't seem to bad.

Steve noticed most of them had given up and were trying to find ways to get down. "Look at Malekith," he pointed out. Malekith, who had cut the ropes to stop people going onto the easiest course, didn't think about how he was going to get off. His course kept moving to another platform and the only way off was to jump onto a platform as it got there since there were no ropes to balance on.

"Karma I'd say," Clint grinned, returning his item to the stack. The group were gathered undercover, watching the Westwood's try to climb down a shaking pole.

"I think you guys might've won," Okoye mentioned, observing the others. "You have six tokens each and got down here in...70 minutes. The others seem to only have four, maybe five and none have gotten down yet. Seems like this Malekith student won't be down first,"

Thor smirked at the sight of Malekith clinging onto a chain as his course moved again. "Serves him right for trying to take the easy way out,"

"You five can go back to the cabins and get into some clean clothes. The ranks will be announced at dinner," Okoye grinned, allowing them to leave.

"The last one is Westwood!" Clint yelled when it began to lightly hail, sprinting down the path. The rest of them ran after him, covering their heads. They were closer to the cabins than the other groups so they got there in no time.

"I have a stitch," Wanda groaned, walking into her cabin. The others did a little celebration and entered their cabins to get changed. Wanda peeled off her clothes and entered the nice warm shower glad that she didn't fall off.

**...SceneChange...**

Of course, it took a little threatening and screams not to mention the amounts of cursing to get to the end of the escape room. Natasha almost got a Westwood decapitated because he wasn't contributing. Although Loki did get Justin Hammer on the tip of his knife once because he kept tweeting how many puzzles he solved- which was none.

When the doors opened, the entire group cheered and ran out, pretty much ignoring Anthony, who was waiting for them outside.

"You took three hours, congrats-" but he was cut off when the students began to run to the cabins, tired of everything.

Loki, Natasha, and Sam were last out, preferring not to get trampled and walked. "We made good leaders," Nat cracked her knuckles.

"I agree, those Westwood would've never gotten past the abandoned hospital part at least," Sam laughed.

Loki nodded. "And yet they still take all the credit,"

"Shame," Sam shrugged as they entered the cabin and main area. They were last since they took so long in the escape rooms. They waved goodbye to Natasha and the two headed to their cabin where they found Tony and Stephen in there, in complete silence.

"What's up?" Sam asked, all hyped, not realizing the mood of the room. "What's...up?" he repeated slowly.

Loki glanced around the room. Tony was on his bed fiddling with his phone with continuos looks to Stephen and Stephen just had his head on his pillow. "Care to explain the mood? It feels like you either just murdered someone or you just had an intense make-out session or se-" he didn't finish his sentence because Tony chucked a pillow at him.

"Seriously, explain," Sam ordered, crossing his arms.

"It's nothing that you think," Stephen finally said. "Completely irrelevant,"

"Right," Loki took out his phone.

"What are you doing?"

"Texting Natasha. I'm sure she'll like to know about this little secret of yours,"

"No-!" Stephen and Tony scrambled out of bed and tried to get Loki's phone off him.

Loki grinned. "Too late,"

Natasha already was at their door. "What's this I hear?" she smirked, pushing the two boys apart. She looked between them, pretty much inspecting them. "Hmmm explain,"

Stephen and Tony just stayed silent and stared at each other and almost burst into laughter.

**-Before-**

Tony entered the cabin in annoyance and closed the door. He didn't care about taking off his muddy clothes and just got clean ones and entered the mini-bathroom each cabin had. He entered the shower and let the warm water take-off all the mud.

Over the water noise, he didn't hear the front door open so when he heard; "Tony?" in Stephen's voice he almost slipped in the shower.

It would be weird not to answer, and if he didn't Stephen would come to check so he did. "Yeah?" he called back.

"Oh, cool you're in the shower," Stephen's voice echoed back. "Hurry up, there's only one and once the others come back they're gonna want to shower,"

"Just wait your turn," Tony answered, still irritated about that Westwood.

"Okay, but I'm all muddy,"

"Yeah well I'm all wet," Tony snapped back, realizing what he said after he said it. His face went red. "I didn't mean that!" he added quickly. Stephen didn't reply. Tony stuck his head out of the shower into the closed bathroom. "Stephen?" he called through the walls.

"Yes?" Stephen replied, his voice all innocent.

Tony fumed. "Did you hear that?"

"That you're wet? I'm well aware," Stephen said, trying not to make it obvious he was smiling.

Tony shut the tap off and stepped out, grabbing his towel. "I'd like to make it known that I did not intend for it to sound like it did," he said as he wrapped the towel around his waist and stepping out into the room.

Stephen was standing in the middle, still covered in the wet mud, looked up at him in surprise, not realizing he had come out. "Uh, right..."

Tony frowned and then turned away, realizing Stephen's eyes fell downwards. "Shut up," his face turned red again.

"I'm sorry, I just didn't think- well I didn't think that you'd have abs or anything- the thought never really crossed my mind-" Stephen turned red himself, unsure if it was noticeable through his muddy face.

Tony bit his lip, his hand still holding the towel around his waist. "Really? Not at all? No thought?" He turned back around. "I mean, everyone has thoughts so it wouldn't be weird-"

"I'm trying to say I was too busy trying to figure out your personality let alone your physical body," Stephen said, his breathing getting slightly heavier.

Tony looked up at the guy he had avoided all this time. "Oh- I just thought maybe- this is silly," he chuckled awkwardly. "Um, I- I finished, you can go in if you want," he stepped aside.

Stephen nodded. "Right, thanks," he walked inside and soon Tony heard the sound of water hit the shower floor.

Tony sighed and got his clothes to get changed.

Stephen got out a bit later and knocked on the door separating the bathroom and main room. "Tony?"

"Yeah?" he looked up from his phone.

"I'm coming out to get changed,"

"Are you sure you aren't just coming out?" Tony mumbled to himself, looked up at the door. "What, do you want me to close my eyes or something?"

"I don't know, I just wanted to let you know," Stephen shrugged, opening the door and walked out also with just a towel.

Tony froze, not expecting his reaction to being what it was. He almost gaped but he shut his mouth. "I'll, I'll look away," he almost stuttered.

Stephen glanced at him in amusement, knowing this was the first time they'd seen each other shirtless ever. Especially since in any Combats class they never bothered with getting changed. He picked up his pants. "Well now would be a good time," he smirked when Tony didn't look away.

Tony went redder. "Right, sorry," he shuffled a bit so his back was facing Stephen and continued meddling with his phone.

"All done," Stephen said, so Tony turned back around. "Surprised as I was?"

Tony looked up at him, still sitting down on his bunk. "I wouldn't say surprised. I was surprised when I didn't blow up my house when I tried to make a rocket when I was seven. This wasn't like that,"

Stephen stepped forward to him. "You tried to make a rocket at seven?"

"Yeah, I was bored and we had some of the components in the shed so I tried to make one. Of course, my dad wasn't stupid enough to leave dangerous elements around so I had to supplement most fuels with kitchen ingredients,"

"How did that turn out?" Stephen raised his eyebrow.

Tony put down his phone. "Well the rocket, which was about five metres tall, rose about fifteen metres in the air and then fell down. Since not all the fuel was used and was highly explosive, well you get the details," Stephen stared at him in awe. Tony smiled and then pointed to a small scar on the side of his jaw near his ear. "Look, you can even feel the small indent from the accident when the rocket fell and blew up and my protective gear wasn't enough. My mother freaked out,"

Stephen sat down at the end of Tony's bunk. "You were a dangerous child too,"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Tony exclaimed.

Stephen shook his head. "Nothing,"

"I am not dangerous!" Tony defended himself.

"No, you're a soft little kitten," Stephen laughed.

Tony opened his mouth in disagreement. "I am not,"

"When you do that, you do," Stephen leaned forward, teasing him.

Tony leaned forward too, to assert dominance. "Let it be known that I bite,"

Stephen smirked, and Tony blushed as they both realized their faces were really close. Stephen looked into his eyes and said "Don't bite too hard," before tilting his head forward, letting their lips finally touch.

Tony didn't pull away but it was an awkward position so his hand slipped and they parted after the short odd kiss. Their breaths were audible and Tony almost began to laugh. He lay on his back looking up at Stephen, who was now bent over him. "I promise I won't bite," he whispered up to Stephen.

Stephen gave the smallest grin and lowered his head to place his lips onto Tony's. His hand found it's way to Tony's jaw, massaging the small scar they were talking about. He could feel the skin's difference. He could feel the damp hair. He could smell the fresh warm scent that followed Tony.

It was a few moments later when they heard the voices and yells of other students approach when Stephen shot up, hitting his head on to the bottom of the top bunk. "Ow," he rubbed the back of his head.

Tony laughed before getting fear into his eyes. "Get to your bed and read a book or something-" he shoved Stephen off so fast that Stephen fell off, ending up on his back on the ground. "Hurry!"

Stephen got up and sat on his bed, taking out a book he brought and pretended to read it. He didn't look up when Sam and Loki entered.

Neither Tony or Stephen looked up to them or each other, both trying to hide their grins of hysteria.

**\- Present -**

Natasha shot both of them a hard look. "What is it?" she pestered.

Tony couldn't hold it as well as Stephen and began to laughed but tried to stop himself. "Nothing,"

Natasha frowned at him, disbelieving him. "Really?"

"Yup," Tony nodded, trying to keep a straight face.

"What happened that was so funny?" Sam asked.

"Nothing," Tony finally managed to say with a straight face. But with once glance at Stephen he began to hide his laughter again.

Stephen shook his head. "It's nothing, I fell off the bed as I was trying to get something and he's hit a new level of stupidity,"

Natasha looked into Stephen's eyes for a while and then crossed her arms. "Fine, keep our secrets," she quickly told Sam and Loki she'd look into it later and left.

Loki and Sam glanced at Stephen and Tony, who were now bickering again.

"I did not hit a new level of stupidity," Tony pointed at Stephen before entering the cabin. Stephen looked bemused but followed him as he replied.

"What is up with those two," Sam sighed, going in to shower.

"At least they're talking," Loki shrugged, also going in.

**vote, comment, request, and add to your library**

**thanks/**DJ

**ps; i did a little sketch but won't let me upload it [i post these initially on wattpad and they let me so,] but you can see it [ ] ts_forever3000 on ; uwu**

**[it's related to *that scene* *wink wink*]**


	6. FIVE: A Starry Starry Night

**"** For such geniuses, they're so oblivious! **"**

**a starry starry night**

_realization_

Once all the chaos caused by the dinner bell calmed down, all the students were rushing into the hall to get seats with their friends. Natasha already got to one of the biggest tables and glared down anyone who opposed her.

Her friends filled in and sat down, and surprisingly, they all fit. Of course, the table was big enough that anyone sitting at one head had to yell if they wanted to talk to the person at the other head. There was no doubt Tony wanted this seat the moment he saw Stephen heading to the other side of the table. Sitting as far away as possible was the only thing he wanted right then.

But unfortunately, Natasha saw this and forced Clint into the seat Stephen was heading to. Stephen shrugged and went to sit on another seat that was an uncomfortable two seats away from Tony. Tony bit his lip but hid his annoyance and awkwardness, knowing Natasha suspected enough.

Wanda was sitting next to Natasha and she leaned in to whisper. "What's up with Tony and Stephen?"

"What isn't?" Natasha crossed her arms. "They've been acting weird ever since we got back from our activities. I have no idea what they've been up to but I'm going to figure out,"

Wanda grinned and took a sip of her water. Loki, next to her, put his arm around her and whispered into her ear; "Did you talk to Clint about Nat?"

Wanda looked at him. "Yeah. He said he's not going to tell her that he likes her and that he might give her a knife or something for her birthday coming up," Wanda recalled her little chat with Clint before they began the deathly rope course.

Loki sighed. "Oh well. That's his poor choice," he looked at the kitchens as waiter people began to head out with trays of food. "Food's coming,"

The table that already held all ten of the friends, had two extra seats. One empty spot next to Steve, opposite to Stephen and the other was opposite Loki, next to Bucky; who was next to Steve.

If Tony's luck could go down, with Stephen sitting so close and that the dinner had broccoli, the Westwood that was helping Stephen came over. He stood next to Steve near the empty chair and looked rather awkward.

"Hey," he smiled to the rest of the suddenly very interested group. He turned to Stephen. "Can I sit here? None of the other tables either don't have enough space or enough decency to let me sit there *cough* *cough* Than,"

Stephen smiled, much to Tony's dislike. "Sure thing," and Steve pulled out the chair next to him out. Stephen looked back at the group. "Guys, this is Everett Ross, but you can call him Ross. We met on the course, don't worry he's not like Than,"

Just as Ross sat down, a bouncy blur hopped over as well, wearing the familiar Westwood coloured yellow and navy cap. As the figure slowed down the group recognized the one and only Valkyrie, or better known as Val.

"How's it going? Mind if I sit here," she pointed to the last empty seat opposite Loki. "As I heard good ol' Ross here saying, there's no place on other tables unless you want to sit with the nasty kids," she sat down when Natasha nodded. "Thanks, you guys are real saviours. How're your groups? I don't think I'm with any of you,"

"Nah, shame really," Natasha shrugged. She nodded towards Than's table. "He hasn't been causing much trouble so far,"

"I think he's planning something right out bad for tomorrow or something," Val agreed. She looked at Tony. "He was on your group, right? Did he do anything bad?"

Tony looked up, completely unaware of the topic as he was too distracted picking out the broccoli on his plate. "Huh?"

Stephen answered instead. "He was near the front most of the time but he didn't seem to make any effort to pester anyone,"

"Than?" Tony realized. "He bumped me a few times but that's about it. I thought he'd like, cut the ropes or something to get his so-called revenge on us,"

"Malekith cut some ropes on the ropes course. It backfired on him though," Thor chuckled, glad he got hit karma.

Loki snuck a glance at the Westwood table that Than sat on. "It is really kinda a bummer that Westwood is on the same camp with us," He caughed the amused looks from both Ross and Val. "I mean it'll be great fun, with the pranks and probably detention but you know..."

Val laughed. "It's okay, I get it. Most Westwood's are pretty sucky,"

Ross frowned curiously. "How'd you guys meet Val?"

"Courtesy of Nat," Tony answered. "Helped her take down some Westwood idiots who were pestering them last semester,"

Ross nodded. "Huh, interesting. None of you guys was around to help? With all your cool Enhancements?"

Stephen answered. "We were kind of occupied with Than and Hydra at the point,"

"It's when Than swore his revenge on us. That's why we're all wondering what that revenge will be and when," Steve added.

Ross raised his eyebrows. "Wow, you guys are full-on. Stephen told me about the goal to take down Hydra and now, Than. Are most of you Enhanced?"

"Well, it _is _a Specialized only camp," Natasha shrugged.

"You have other types?" Ross asked.

"It is kinda complicated. Our school has two sections, Agent or Specialized. Specialized has the sub-category of Enhanced or just Specialized. Westwood only has a Specialized but no Enhancement program," Steve explained, giving Bucky his peas.

Ross 'oohed'. "That's really cool. I always wished our school would have an Enhancement program, you know, so I'd meet cool people like you guys,"

"Well, lucky for you, all of us are Enhanced, except for...Sam, Nat, and Clint," Loki stated.

"Wow, really? I saw Stephen use his powers during our course. Apparently you guys aren't allowed to use your powers,"

"Nope," Tony sighed, almost frustratingly from Ross's many questions. "As part of some law thing called the Accords we can't use our powers without permission, the school will help us control them and then when we turn 18, we don't get put on a hit list by the government," He gave Ross a sarcastic smile.

"Unfortunately, that's true," Steve shrugged.

"But you know, at least we don't die," Sam 'woohooed'.

Ross looked impressed. "Good thing there's such thing, otherwise you would be pretty much on the run,"

"In Sokovia there isn't such thing," Wanda spoke up, turning the attention to her.

"What do you mean?" Steve frowned.

"You never wondered why I'd moved here? Sokovia is in the midst of a war between activists and the government, fighting for the safety and rights of the Enhanced. My family had to flee here to America for the program so we could be safe," Wanda explained, poking her chicken.

"Is your entire family Enhanced?" Val asked. "Is that a thing? Like your powers go down in genes?"

Wanda shook her head. "I don't know about the genes thing but my parents weren't Enhanced. My twin brother and I were kidnapped and used as test subjects for illegal experiments to become Enhanced. Ironic, as Sokovia is against such 'inhumanity',"

"Dam, that's tough," Val pursed her lips. "What about your brother?"

"Complications," Wanda looked down. **[this is sorta mcu based as you guys know, so their parents are 'normal' humans not like electro or anything and since their mcu parents died, most of their information here is made up by moi so yeah]** "My father has an American citizenship even though he isn't American. So legally **[i'm pretty sure don't quote me on this]**, we all already had rights to live here **[at least that's how it works in australia...i'm pretty sure, again don't quote me on it]**. Unfortunately, due to stupid excuses and such and the bad immigration process of Sokovia, my mother and brother had to stay behind and can only move here until the papers are completed,"

"And you never told me this? Really?" Natasha looked astonished. "Ugh, in the future I'm gonna hit every government sop hard in the face they'll stop being annoying,"

"That would be amusing," Clint scoffed.

"Is your brother Enhanced?" Ross asked, interested.

"Yes. He is very fast, his metabolism or something is enhanced," Wanda shrugged. "It's not too bad, they'll be able to come soon anyway I hope,"

There was some awkward silence before Tony spoke up. "So Stephen," he emphasized on 'Stephen'. "How'd you meet Ross?"

Stephen glanced at him before answering. "Um, well, while we were walking the track to the obstacle course," he coughed to clear his throat afterwards. "Why?" he quickly added.

Tony stared at his food. "Uh- well just wondering of course. Why else?"

"Um..." Stephen put down his fork. "maybe you're just jealous?"

Tony froze, suddenly aware of everyone listening. "Wha-what? Why would I be jealous? There's no reason to be jealous,"

Stephen smirked. "I agree, why would you be jealous?" he paused to eat some potatoes.

Tony frowned. "I don't know, why would I?" there was some confused silence. "We're going in circles," he muttered, stabbing his rice.

"Exactly," Stephen said.

"I'm so confused," Loki said out loud, staring into confused space.

"Something's up," Natasha whispered to Wanda. "Help me find out what," she looked down the table towards Tony and Stephen. "So interesting things have been happing in your cabin?" she asked innocently. With her history of finding things out, if there was anything they were hiding, they'd think she found out and they'd freak out.

"What?" Both Stephen and Tony turned to her simultaneously.

A giveaway, Natasha smirked. "Did you guys have fun in your cabin?" she followed her previous question.

Wanda realized what was going on. "Yeah, the evidence says yes,"

Tony's face went white. "Nope, no fun was had. Stephen's really annoying if you haven't noticed,"

Ross gave a weird look at Tony and then Stephen. "I'm so confused,"

Stephen shook his head. "Ignore him, he's just a bit irritated I guess,"

"Hey, you can't say that!" Tony looked at Ross. "Stephen just can't admit that I'm better than him,"

"I did admit that you're better than me! You're too arrogant to accept the simplest compliments," Stephen almost glared at him.

Tony opened his mouth to say something but decided against it. "Pfft, we're both smart and arrogant," he muttered, looking back down at his cauliflower.

Stephen blinked, an inevitable small smile twitched at the corner of his mouth, remembering the last term's scandals. He didn't respond but continued to eat his food.

Ross and the others on the table sat in a short confused silence for a bit before someone began to talk and the table had at least four different conversations.

Clint managed to stop Natasha from stabbing him because he stole her orange juice. "Honestly, you two are quarrelling like siblings," Wanda frowned, watching them squabble in amusement.

"Sibling? Ugh," Clint pretended to puke. "No thanks,"

"Oh, right," Wanda smirked, remembering his secret infatuation with the redhead. She fiddled with her fork.

Natasha rolled her eyes, for once, oblivious to the hidden meaning behind their words. "If that were true, Clint would be like my annoying baby brother, ugh," she managed to steal back her juice, although now it was half empty.

Wanda laughed and leaned sideways onto Loki. "What are you thinking?" she asked him.

Loki was silently eating and he looked down at her. "About Than. I'm inspecting their table and behaviour to try and see what is going on,"

Wanda peered past Val's shoulder, who sat in front of them, to try and see Than. "Don't worry too much, he can't do anything anyway, there are so many chaperones," She looked back at him.

Loki looked back down at his food. "Yeah, you're right. I just don't want any of us to end up in detention or something,"

"I know," Wanda put her arm around Loki. "It'll be fine. We'll have fun and if Hydra doesn't want that, well, let's just hope the courses end up making regret their decisions,"

The rest of dinner was less chaotic than the teachers hoped, to their relief. There was a bit a quarrel when dessert came out but that was resolved quickly. Once Mr Coulson gave them a brief of what was going to happen on the following day, everyone battled their way out of the hall to get to their cabins, resulting in one mild concussion.

Wanda and Natasha followed behind Tony. "Go away," Tony sighed, turning around, catching them tailing him.

"No, not until you tell us what happened in the cabin," Natasha crossed her arms.

"Nothing happened!" Tony persisted, continuing his path to the cabin.

"Really? Your expression say otherwise. Come on," Wanda pleaded.

"There's nothing to tell," Tony said, before shutting the door on them.

Wanda and Natasha looked at each other with a 'yeah-he's-lying' look as they hopped off the doorway and headed to their own cabin nearby.

"The secrecy is so frustrating," Wanda sighed entering their cabin.

"Tell me about it. The worst part is, I doubt Tony or Stephen know the whole secret either," Natasha flopped onto her bed.

Wanda was taking out her hair when Sharon entered, flushed, from either running to their cabin in the cold night or from talking to a certain guy.

Natasha guessed the latter. She sat back up and smirked at Sharon. "Were you talking to Steeeve?" she sang.

Sharon spun around with an almost glare. "As if," she huffed, before sitting on her bunk. "Actually yes. Walking down those stairs in the dark is a safety hazard! Good thing he caught me," she smiled, almost forgetting others were there.

Natasha rolled her eyes. "I can't believe you like him. He's too..."

"Buff?" Sharon suggested. "He's so muscley,"

Natasha frowned. "Ew, ugh," she shook her head.

Sharon laughed and glanced at Wanda. "How are you doing while dating Loki? I'd never have imagined it,"

Wanda raised her eyebrow and shrugged. "Loki? I'd never have imagined it either, but here we are and we're happy, so,"

Sharon fiddled with her hair. "Thanks to Tony and Stephen, I'd guess, right?"

"Yeah," Wanda agreed, remembering the events that occurred when she and Lokin were spying on them.

Natasha made an exaggerated sigh. "For such geniuses, they're so oblivious! I'm so tired of it," she groaned.

"Oblivious? Ironic, coming from you," Sharon pursed her lips in entertainment.

Natasha shot her a look. "Me? Oblivious? What on earth are you talking about?"

"Clint? Hello? You're deafer than he is," Sharon leaned forward.

Natasha made a tired look, "Clint? Really? That's what this is about?"

Wanda made an 'ehhh' expression and fumed. "Yeah," she simply said.

Natasha paused and frowned. "Clint? Does he like me? How do you know for sure?"

"Come on, for a to-be spy, you're extremely blind," Sharon said.

Natasha shook her head. "No way. I won't believe you,"

"Fine, you're choice," Sharon chuckled, taking off her socks.

Natasha looked down and shook her head again. She shrugged it off and glanced at the top bunk where the fourth member for their cabin was reading. "So...Melinda? I mean- May, right, I forgot,"

Melinda May was in the Combats class and was always very silent and deadly. They didn't really talk much but they were respective partners. The dark-haired girl looked up at her in silence before looked back down at her book.

"Right..." Natasha muttered, standing up abruptly. "I'm going to go to the bathroom,"

"Thanks for the announcement," Sharon said.

Natasha replied with a mocking expression. "ThANks fOR THe AnNOuNCeMENt," she muttered.

**...SceneChange...**

Once the teachers had come around to silence the students at about 10 pm, they began to slowly doze off, one by one, due to the exercise they had done that day, making them exhausted.

Tony couldn't sleep. He was tired but he just couldn't close his eyes and rest. He had slept in a cabin with four other people during his Tech camp for the entirety of the holidays, this was no different. Except maybe this time Stephen was sleeping only a metre and a half away from him.

He buried his face in his pillow after glancing at his watch. It was now 11:30 pm and he could hear Sam's faint snores and Loki's 'sleep' breathing. He frowned when he realized he couldn't hear Stephen so he flipped around to face that side of the room.

Assuming everyone else was asleep, he whispered; "Stephen?"

"Yeah?" his voice answered. "What are you not asleep?" he hissed.

Tony shrugged, even though he knew he couldn't see him. "I don't know, I can't," he propped himself up comfortably.

"Neither,"

After some silence, Tony saw Stephen sit up, pull the covers off him and then quickly tiptoe quietly to him. "Come," he whispered.

"What?" Tony said, confused.

Stephen sighed. "Come on, put on your shoes," he said, quickly slipping his shoes on, without tying his laces.

Tony stumbled out of bed and grabbed blindly in the dark to grab his shoes. He put them on halfway out the door, baffled by Stephen's actions. "What are we doing?" he managed to say when he became exposed the sharp cold air of the night.

"I want to show you something," Stephen grabbed his coat and put it on as he chucked Tony's to him. "Shush, let's go,"

"We're not supposed to be out this late! If we get caught-" Tony caught up to Stephen, walking a little faster then he was, since he had shorter legs.

"We're not going to get caught unless you quieten," Stephen pulled Tony behind some bushes and blindly through some trees until they found themselves on a small beach to the enormous lake that sat behind the cabins.

"Here," Stephen looked up into the sky. The atmosphere was a dark void that was so hypnotising, with scattered shining dots that were the stars. It was so clear.

Tony froze and found himself staring into the stars. He'd always seen this sky in the city, but the lights always made it not as clear as out here. It was like seeing a 320p video become 4k. He almost held out his hand to touch the alluring night sky.

"Pretty amazing right?" Stephen smiled, sitting down on a fallen log behind them. "It's amazing,"

Tony sat down next to him, forgetting they were not supposed to be out. "Yeah..."

The two were looking up into the sky, watching the stars. "It's cold isn't it," Tony muttered, realizing he was shaking a bit, even though he had his coat on.

"It's about 3 degrees," Stephen said, putting his hands together to warm them.

"Wow, that's higher than your IQ," Tony grinned, now staring into the sand.

Stephen broke into a smile. "Oh, you wish,"

They fell into silence and stared out into the lake. Tony crossed his arms, attempting to warm himself and ended up leaning on Stephen's side. "You're warm," was his excuse. Stephen just put his arm around the smol boy.

The moment was broken, when a buzz come from Tony's pocket. He sat up a bit to take it out.

"What is it? I thought you didn't have any signal?" Stephen frowned.

"I do know, my router experiment worked! Yes," His fingers tapped the screen to contacts and then proceeded to call Bruce.

"I don't think he'll be awake," Stephen sighed.

"You obviously don't know Bruce," Tony put it on speaker as Bruce answered

"Tony?" his voice buzzed through the speakers. "What are you doing awake?"

Tony's eyes lit up and held his phone with two hands. "I'm with Stephen- anyways, the router worked! I successfully hacked into Shield's system so I have signal,"

"You hacked into your own system?" Bruce laughed on the other side. "Genius, Tony,"

Tony rolled his eyes. "Hey, it is hard to hack into my systems!" he insisted.

"Wait, did you say you were with Stephen? What are you doing with him at this time of night?" Bruce asked.

Tony thought of an answer quickly. "We're in the same cabin. Plus, you're on speaker,"

"Cabins? So you're talking again? That's great?" Bruce exclaimed.

"Yeah...?" Tony agreed hesitantly. "Anyway, what are you doing over there? How's school?"

"School? It's...boring without you guys. There's not much trouble either since most of Hydra is Specialized. Except for Zola, he's being a real ass in class, now that you guys aren't arguing the whole time,"

Stephen found himself amused. "Wow. Who's he arguing with?"

"The teacher. It's getting really annoying. At least with you guys, it's amusing listening to your insults and tension," Tony was about to reply but they quickly fell silent. "What's going on?" Bruce asked.

"Shhh, I'll call you back," Tony whispered into the phone and hung up.

Tony and Stephen hopped off the log and crouched down behind it. They spied the torchlight behind the trees, teachers probably scouring the cabin areas for any sneaky students.

"Come," Stephen gestured to Tony to follow him. They sprinted across the beach when the light disappeared inside a cabin. They paused once they were behind a cabin.

"Which one's ours?" Tony whispered, looking down the row of cabins. Stephen covered Tony's mouth when the light reappeared, the teacher closing the door of that cabin. The light spread through the gaps between the cabin and Stephen and Tony hid behind the cabin.

Once the light disappeared once again inside the next cabin, Stephen let go of Tony. "They're doing cabin checks. If they go into ours, they'll realize we're missing,"

"Which one's ours?" Tony repeated.

Stephen took something out of his coats pocket. "We don't need to know,"

Tony recognized the golden double ring thing from the night on top of the tower. "Okay,"

Stephen put it on and did the familiar circling motion with his hands. Golden sparks appeared and then formed a circle portal. "Come on," he pulled Tony in front of the portal.

"You're getting better at making those things," he grinned before he jumped inside.

Stephen smiled and stepped through before the portal closed.

The two appeared into their dark cabin and then they scrambled into their bed as they heard the teachers footsteps into their front steps.

They pulled the covers over them and turned around, as the yellow torchlight went over them when the teacher inspected the room and then left.

Once the door closed, Stephen turned back around. "That was close," he whispered, making sure they didn't wake up the others.

Tony smiled but didn't reply.

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	7. SIX: The Hunger Games But With No Death

**"** language clint! **"**

**the hunger games but with no death**

_enhancements would be useful right about now_

Tony snuck his jacket on and headed out of the cabin even though it was still around 6:30 in the morning. The early morning didn't stop the kids from getting up and out, making a lot of noise, so Tony wasn't the only one out.

Stephen had left to go to the shower and Tony pretended to be asleep, only to get up and leave once Stephen couldn't see him anymore. Loki wasn't in the cabin, he must've left really early and Sam was up, getting changed, although he just shrugged at Tony's departure to the breakfast kitchens.

On the way there, Tony surprisingly wasn't thinking about Stephen, for once. Loki was on his mind, casually. Loki was put into their cabin, the boy's cabin. Tony had wondered which one the teachers would put him in and they had spoken about it on the bus earlier the previous day.

In the end, they figured that Natasha's theory that he would be put in a boy's cabin the most plausible. That fact that he was dating Wanda, who was a female, they'd rather him not in a female cabin that would give him the liberty to go to other female cabins.

Sam did mention that the specific 'gender only' cabins wouldn't stop them if they really wanted to do anything and everyone agreed and continued to eat their kilo-big rainbow popcorn.

Tony was too into his thoughts, which had turned to whether he could use his father's tower to create an alien beacon, to spot Natasha crouching behind a wall that he bumped into her. "Oh-shi-sorry!" he exclaimed, then realizing it was Natasha. "What are you doing?...spying?" he frowned, sticking his head around the wall to see what she was looking at.

She pulled him back around the wall where they weren't visible by whoever was behind the wall. "Shh! We can't let him see us. I'm conducting an experiment,"

Tony stared at her. "That was Clint. Why are you spying on Clint? Are you pulling a prank on him? I have tazers in my bag,"

Natasha ignored him. "So do I," she ruffled her hair. "The breakfast hall isn't open yet, it got prolonged by about ten minutes because someone knocked over the basket of muffin and now about half are missing,"

"Why are you spying on Clint though?" Tony repeated, joining her on poking their heads around the corner to spy on Clint playing basketball with Sam and Steve. Except that the basketball was a dead nuclear energy reactor core that was discarded by the camp. Bucky was sitting on the side reading something but glanced up once in a while to make sure neither of them would disintegrate him.

Natasha didn't flinch or blush. "A prank,"

Tony had to be impressed by her lying. She'd always been an expert, without any ticks and excellent excuses. Except for this time, he thought something felt and seemed wrong.

"I asked that and you avoided the question. That's not the truth is it?" Tony crossed his arms. "Why are you really spying on Clint?"

Natasha sighed. "I'm...Sharon said something and I can't get it out of my head,"

Tony raised his eyebrow. "If it was about the fact he put slime into your duffel bag then I had nothing to do about it,"

Natasha stared at him. "He put-?" she shook her head. "No, it wasn't that,"

"What was it then?" Tony asked, interesting in what she was so worried about.

Natasha looked to the side. "She said that Clint liked me and that I was blind to not see it, Wanda seemed to agree, but I have no idea who to believe. It's such a weird truth,"

Tony tilted his head. "Look at it from a third-person view instead of a first-person. What would you think if it was one of your friends, who are best friends with the other but then the other turns out to like the former but you only know this intel from a not-so-trustworthy person? Although someone trustworthy, Wanda, did seem to agree with it. What would you do then?"

Natasha thought for a moment. "I don't know...tell the first person to keep it cool and see how the other acts? Or tell the first person to keep it cool and normal and I'd see how the other acts and judge it from there.

Tony nodded. "Then do that. Act normal and see properly how he acts around you. When you're friends you do tend to miss things,"

Natasha glanced at the guys playing basket-nuclear-energy-reactor-core and shrugged. "Okay, I guess," she looked up at him and completely changed the mood with a sneaky and smirky smile. "What are you doing out here by yourself?" she poked her head around him to see if Stephen or someone was behind him.

Tony looked back behind him in confusion to see what Natasha was trying to look at. "Huh? Because everyone else in my cabin was busy so I thought I'd just come out here,"

"Even Stephen?"

"Yeah, he was showering," Tony answered, shrugged.

Natasha leaned towards him. "So, you guys are on talking terms?"

"I don't know, I guess?" Tony said.

Natasha sighed, knowing she wasn't going to go anywhere. "So, do you know what we're doing today? I heard rumours they were going to chuck us onto a remote island and then make us Hunger Games our way out of there,"

Tony frowned in absurdness. "That's dumb. I have no idea, and I don't care. As long as Than doesn't do anything, I'm good,"

"Yeah," Natasha agreed.

The two made their way to the breakfast hall, once the announcement came over saying they were restocked with muffins and that they could come in. Of course, once again, they reserved the biggest table for their friends, much to the dislike of the other people who had to split their friend groups because of the lack of room on the other tables.

This time, Tony succeeded in sitting on the other side of the table to Stephen, much to Natasha's disappointment. Breakfast was much calmer than dinner, although Tony slightly regretted not sitting nearer to Stephen since Ross and Val had come to sit with them and Ross sat right opposite Stephen and they were chatting away.

But once breakfast ended, there wasn't a single blood spill or death threats between the rival schools. Mr Coulson went to the front to explain what they were doing that day, glad he didn't have to call the doctors again.

"Hello, and good morning to you all. I hope you sleep well because today we have an intense activity that will last all day," he glanced at his clipboard. "Groups one to five will go with Okoye and Anthony. Groups six until eight will go to with Mr Pierce and me. Get up calmly and-" but of course he was cut off and everyone went loud to talk with their friends prior to this big activity.

Everyone shuffled into their groups and this time Tony went to stand next to Stephen except that Ross stood next to him as well. Natasha and Clint's group were now together and were being led up a long path away from the other group.

Once they had disappeared Coulson questioned his group with a megaphone and began to speak. "Okay, today we'll be playing Capture the Flag," he held up a big green flag, about as big as his arm. "This is our flag. The other group's flag is red,"

"Are we going against groups one to five?" one kid asked loudly.

Coulson nodded. "Yes. Once they made it to their flag, we'll get reported on our walkie-talkies and the game will begin," he held out a big bag and got Mr Pierce to hand out some smaller walkie-talkies. "Keep these on you. With these, you'll be able to contact your teammates and me. You aren't connected to the other team so you can't contact them,"

"Is it normal capture the flag rules?" another kid asked.

Coulson nodded. "Yes. The first team to go into the other teams 'camp' and steal their flag and come back wins. The teachers will be standing at the flag site to judge and supervise,"

"Where's the jail?" someone asked.

Coulson shrugged. "There isn't one. Remember, no maiming, killing or extreme blood extractions," Everyone glanced at each other in confusion. Tony stared down at his walkie-talkie and attached it to his belt. He quickly put the little Bluetooth earpiece into his ear to be able to talk and hear people but still have two free hands. Everyone began to do the same.

As everyone put their earpieces in, a voice buzzed through all of theirs. It was Anthony. "We're all ready, BEGIN,"

Everyone glanced at each other. "Come, think up of a plan, a strategy! The winning team gets extra dessert!"

One of the better Westwood's began telling orders. "Okay, you six guard the flag. You guys search for the other team's flag and the rest of you just spread out. Once you find the team's flag, tell us," he tapped on his earpiece and everyone spread out.

Tony, Stephen, and Ross were on 'spread out' duty. "I'm glad Than is on our team, otherwise he might bash us up," Tony walked up the foresty path. "No one can see you out here,"

"That might not be a good thing since they could attack their own team," Stephen shrugged, making sure he didn't trip on the scattered rocks.

Although, they didn't have time for an answer due to the new disturbance. A blast from behind a tree that Tony and Stephen strongly recognized as Malekith's.

"Hey! You can't use magic," Tony exclaimed, staring wide-eyed at the scorched fallen tree trunk he ducked behind.

Malekith emerged from a tree with two of his Westwood friends next to him. "They never said we can't," he smirked, readying his hands for another blast.

Stephen frowned at him unamused. He tapped his walkie-talkie and talked through it. "Mr Coulson? Malekith just blasted us with his Enhancement, we aren't allowed to use enhancements are we?" He glanced up at the Hydra associate warningly.

There was no reply through the coms but Coulson's voice blared through some hidden speakers in the forest. "The enhancements rules do no apply in this game. But remember, no maiming or extreme wounds. For those Specialized, there are mystery boxes hidden around the game field with items of use inside," his voice buzzed off and the tension between the small group intensified.

"Told you," Malekith said before another bright blast escaped his fingers towards the trio.

Tony and Stephen both stepped forward to summon a shield but Tony got a bit distracted by one of Malekith's friends coming in from the side. A fight began, filled with Tony's blasts and Stephen's golden summons. **[all these blasts from the fights don't kill they just like, numb them, knock them out, or temporarily paralysis them.]**

Ross was behind both Tony and Stephen, staying clear from the blasts. He was ducking a bit, although he didn't really need to since Stephen was tall enough to cover for them both. He was alertly looking around when he spotted the small wooden box. He quickly dropped to the group and crawled through the leafy ground to open it.

The moment he opened it he felt a sharp pain in his jaw as the second of Malekith's partners punched him. The other team's Westwood didn't get far as Stephen had already used a technique he learned in Combats combined with a hit of golden chains on him.

"Are you alright?" Stephen panted, stopping another blast from Malekith.

Ross recovered. "Yeah," he grabbed the lid of the wooden box and found a pair of binocular type things and a rope. Before he grabbed the items, he spun around as one of them went to attack him. As he spun around he stuck his leg out, kicking the other Westwood's legs from under him, causing him to fall.

Ross grabbed the rope and got up, standing over the other guy. He held him down, beginning to tie him up. No one could help him since Malekith and the other surviving member of Malekith's group were busy fighting Tony and Stephen. Which, they had under control.

Tony managed to finally blast the other Westwood into a tree, knocking him out. He turned around to help Stephen, but Stephen had already put Malekith onto a pin.

"Help, he's stronger remember," Stephen did yell out to Tony though. Tony rushed out to help hold the Enhanced.

They both glanced to Ross to help, but Ross had just knocked out the other Westwood and brung the rope over to them. All three of them, together, managed to tie up Malekith so he'd stop squirming.

Tony clicked some things on his gauntlet to change his blaster setting to 'stun'. He hadn't fully suited up, just with his boots and both gauntlets. "This is for all the time you were a jerk," and he shot a blast at the defeated bully. Malekith's head dropped down as he fell unconscious.

"He won't be out for long," Tony sighed.

"What'd you find," Stephen asked Ross, who was looking through the box he found.

"A rope, that's tied onto Malekith right now and this binocular thing," he held it up to his eyes. "Huh. It's a thermal vision one,"

Tony deactivated his suit parts. "I've got that setting in my helmet," he mentioned. "We should head out in case we get ambushed," he began to walk off, Stephen and Ross following.

"If we can use out enhancements...dam it. The other team literally has all the enhanced except us two," Tony gestured to Stephen and himself. "They've got Steve, Wanda and Loki...Bucky, and ughhh Natasha too,"

"We'll be fine, I'm sure they won't beat you guys up," Ross suggested.

Tony laughed. "You obviously don't know our friends. We're so going to get caught," he stopped talking and walked a bit further in front and crossed his arms. Stephen glanced at Ross and shrugged.

With Tony in front, Stephen and Ross were walking behind him. "So...what's with you and Tony?" Ross asked Stephen under the earshot of Tony.

Stephen raised his eyebrows but didn't look at Ross. "Um, I don't know at this point, to be honest. We haven't had time. This is like the second day I've seen him since he was shot the last term,"

"I heard about that on the news," Ross said. "Are you friends?"

"Rivals, really," Stephen replied, but his instincts made him duck down, pulling Ross down with him. A small round metal thing appeared, sticking itself into the tree just behind them, where they would've been if they hadn't ducked down.

"Tony," Stephen stood up, pointing to the metal thing they recognized as an Icer bullet, that once attached to the skin, even through clothes, injected the neuro-toxin serum into their person, tranquilizing them.

Tony walked up to it, his gauntlet already forming and scanning it. "It's like an icer, but this dosage only would knock someone out for about...approximately three minutes," He turned around and his gauntlet generated a shield, stopping two Icers.

"Someone's shooting at us," Stephen said, summoning a shield.

"No shit, Sherlock," Ross rolled his eyes as he stood behind the two shields. He held up the binoculars and looked through them. "There are two people. One's in the trees and the other is on the group over there," he pointed out forward.

Holographic glasses formed around Tony's face. "The angle of the shots say that they're coming from above. What's the person on the ground doing?" they still had their shields out and nothing was happening.

Ross looked through them again. "Holding something, I don't know what,"

"Well, they're definitely going to attack at some point," Stephen shrugged.

Just as he finished talking, a familiar called screeched out from the top of a tree. "CAW CAW MOTHERF**KER," and Clint sprung out from the tree, shooting them with two Icers in his hand. As he landed and slid underneath Tony's shield, kicking him over, one who could only assume was Natasha, came out with a bat.

"LaNGuaGE CLiNt!" she exclaimed, swinging the bat onto Stephen. He blocked it but he was on match for her combat skills. She already had him on the ground and was about to knock him out but he got out a shield to stop her.

Tony had fallen over from Clint's attack was no stopping a bunch of combat sequences from him, so fast he could barely think about the others.

Stephen's only disadvantages were that most of his enhancements were weapons that were too dangerous. But even so, he created a chain and threw it to Ross, who caught it and ran behind Natasha, putting it around her.

Stephen stood up and stared at her. "I can't knock you out,"

"Because I'm a girl?" Natasha smirked jokingly, her famous line from every Combat class to every guy. Ross's body pressed against her, holding her still with the chain, she jumped, lifting both legs, using Stephen to kick back and push her and Ross onto the ground behind them. Stephen fell down as well.

Natasha and Ross were in a wrestle and Stephen turned to face Tony. He was stopping all of Clint's attacks but Clint was a bit distracted so Stephen pushed out a shield onto him, causing him to fall over. He held out an Icer to shoot him, but Stephen turned the bullet into a butterfly.

Tony rushed forward and held Clint back while Stephen took the Icers off him. He turned around and shot Natasha. She tried to put Ross in front of her but she got her leg dangled in a bit root. She collapsed unconscious. Stephen turned back around and shot Clint, who also went limp in Tony's arms. He let go of the archer and stood up next to Stephen.

"Good job,"

They all began to walk again. "That was tough," Ross said, panting.

"We'd better see if the others have found the base," Tony said, before talking into the walkie-talkie. "Team 2, have we found the other teams base? I repeat, have we found the base yet? Over,"

"Negative, over," someone's voice answered.

"I'm going to go fly over and see. I'll report back, over and out," Tony looked up to the sky and activated his boots.

"Fly?" Ross frowned.

"It's pretty cool," Stephen crossed his arms.

The boosters whirled and Tony shot up into the air, hovering over the trees. He looked down at them. "Say here, I'll go look further out," and then he disappeared.

"What exactly is his enhancement?" Ross asked.

"His arc-reactor and extreme genius," Stephen smiled.

They paused and glanced around when they heard a rustle in the bushes.

"What's that?" Stephen asked Ross, pointing to the binoculars.

"Um.." Ross looked through but frowned. Through the binoculars, there were bits of mist that were red hot. He put them down, but there wasn't anything there in real life.

"What is it?" Stephen turned around to him.

"I don't know..." and then he was blasted with an explosion of red.

"Wanda," Stephen muttered under his breath. He created his shield again and looked at Ross, who was knocked out. He looked around and found himself fighting Loki.

"Where's Tony?" Loki was looking around as she fought. "Is he hiding around somewhere ready for a surprise attack?"

Stephen didn't answer because he fell unconscious when Wanda came from behind him and put her fingers gently on his temples with her eyes glowing maroon.

"Good job," Loki smiled, lowering her hands.

"Guess I'm getting better," she stepped closer and put her hands around her partner's waist, giving her a quick kiss. "Let's go win this game,"

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**thanks/**DJ


	8. SEVEN: Because I Want You

**"** What, you think I'm not good enough to date you? **"**

**because i want you**

_i would also want tony stark tbh_

***warning: mild transphobic/homophobic teasing/insults**

Tony's eyes scanned the area for anything that looked like it would store a red flag. He hovered over the top of the trees. He could see the camp one or two miles off where he was and some other activities spots like the ropes course and other small buildings. But no red flag.

He talked into his comms. "Stephen?" He asked, waiting for an answer. There were none. Tony looked back down where he left them. "Stephen? Ross? Do you hear me?" he began to worriedly make his way back but something shot at him from below.

He swerved back down in a messy pattern so he wouldn't get shot. One Icer blast, he quickly inspected, had hit his left booster so he woobily landed onto the ground. He glanced up, already generating a shield. He didn't recognize his attacker, it was a Westwood.

They shrunk behind a tree but kept trying to shoot him. He dodged the shots and ran all the way up to them and stole the Icer of them easily before shooting them unconscious.

Tony dropped the Icer almost in disgust and look around for any other threats. Nothing. He tried talking to Stephen again. "Hello? Anyone there?" He glanced down at his sparking booster as no answer came through.

He sighed and deactivated his boosters. "Alrighty," he glanced down at the unconscious Westwood, his eyes falling onto their walkie-talkie. He slowly pursed his lips as he was forming an idea.

His head flicked up as he heard some twigs snapping. With no following actions, he snatched the walkie-talkie off the Westwood and ran off past the trees going in a random direction.

After a bit, getting puffed, he paused, leaning against a tree. He looked down at the walkie-talkie he stole. Tony then fashioned up his gauntlet, the metal stopping at his elbow. A small flap on the outer shell popped up and Tony pulled out a thin cable. He disconnected the backing of the walkie-talkie and put the cable inside.

"Okay..." he pressed some buttons on the little screen that had materialized onto the forearm of his gauntlet. "Speak to me," he turned a small dial on the holographic screen, listening on the other team's radio frequencies.

The voice changes as he turned the dial a bit.

"On your left!" the voices buzzed through the walkie-talkie.

"I hear them coming,"

"Overhead,"

"Have you found their base?"

"Leave the bird alone!"

"Get a room!"

"I swear you're a double agent!"

Tony frowned as he went through the different conversations, even recognizing some of the voices belonging to his friends.

"Have they found our base yet?" Tony paused.

"Nope, I don't think so. They'd never find it, this place is perfect,"

"Theirs probably is too, if we can't find it,"

"As if they'd find something better than this. I bet they don't even know there's a quarry nearby,"

Tony disconnected the wire and dropped the walkie-talkie. "Quarry, thank you," he activated his boosters again but didn't get far off the ground as it began to spark. "Ughhh," he groaned glaring at them. "Put up the analysis,"

A holographic screen appeared in front of him, generated by his gauntlet. It showed the schematics of his half-made suit. "What's wrong with the boosters," He zoomed up onto the left booster, the one that had been hit.

He squinted at the screen. "Dam it, the wires are fried," he turned off the screen and kicked his foot on a tree. "I can't fly with one booster," He looked back down at it. "I can fix it. I'm a mechanic, I fix things. Okay..." he stared at it, thinking of a solution.

"Replace the wires," he looked back down at the walkie-talkie he dropped earlier. "No one needs this," he picked it up and gently took out the wires inside it.

**...SceneChange...**

"You want to know something? They should've told us we could use our Specialized and Enhanced attacks. Because then I'd have pestered Mr Coulson to let me use my wings, and then I'd have found their base in seconds," Sam complained, swinging the bat Bucky found in a 'surprise box' but stole off him in a fair squabble for it.

Bucky rolled his eyes, holding the Icer he stole from Sam in another fair squabble as revenge for stealing the bat. It was a sniper Icer. "Right, because no one else in our team can fly,"

"What? Wanda can't fly properly yet, she can only like," he shot his hand into the air. "boost herself into the air and then come down again. She can't scout the area as I can,"

"Just shut it will you," Steve groaned. "With your bickering, the whole other team will be able to hear us,"

"Tell that to Hammer over there," Sam frowned, nodded behind them were Thor was nodding along with whatever Justin Hammer, a Westwood, was saying. He tagged along with them when the game started. "At this rate, the other team will be able to see his ego," Steve gripped the shield he picked up off one of the other team that had ambushed them unsuccessfully earlier.

Justin was waving his hands about talking about some ultra-sonic ray blaster gun he was developing but no one could see it yet because it would damage your eyes. Thor nodded, but inside he was ready to punch his head off. "Are we there yet?" he complained, cutting off Justin.

"We don't even know where there is yet," Bucky shrugged. "We're just walking until we find something or someone," A series of groaned followed. "What? It's not my fault,"

Sam was about to say something about how it was when everyone lifted up their weapons when someone dropped down in front of them.

"Relax, it's us," Natasha said as she straightened up.

Clint slid down the side of the tree truck beside them. "Guess who was working together? Tony and Stephen! Oh and Ross,"

"Who totally kicked your butts. We managed to take out Stephen and Ross," Wanda poked Clint, appearing with Loki.

"What about Tony?" Steve asked, lowering his shield.

"No idea, he wasn't with them when we got to them," Loki answered, crossing her arms.

"Have you guys found their base?" Thor asked hopefully.

"No. It's not where we went through, but it is in that direction because everyone we came across was coming our way," Natasha flicked off some leaves in her hair.

"Great," Sam slumped.

"Did you bump into Than?" Bucky asked, wondering.

"Than? Oh, that kid? Such a whiz," Justin piped up, entering the conversation. "Pity he's not on our team, he'd be a great team member. I remember when he helped me stop some bullies that wouldn't let me cheat on the science test-"

"Did you?" Bucky interrupted the chatter-box.

Natasha tucked her hair behind her ear. "Nope. I hope we get to though. We'd be able to punch him without getting in trouble," she punched her own palm.

"Oh," the group frowned, turning around to face the newly arrived Westwood. "do you mean we'd be able to punch you without getting in trouble? Oh wait, we already don't get in trouble," Than stood there, with a pair of brass knuckles and his muscles. He had a pretty big group to match theirs behind him with equally questionable weapons.

The group went silent, not expecting him at that moment. Steve's eyes widened. "Um, you do know there are cameras?"

Than ignored them and swiped at the closest of them, Sam. He ducked but Than's arm skimmed his forehead, causing him to trip backwards. "Never stopped us before,"

"We've been waiting for this," Natasha grinned, flexing her fingers.

"HA-YA," Clint had climbed the tree a few moments ago and now dropped down on top of Than, wrapping a rope around him. This was the signal to fight.

Than's teammates rushed forwards and the not-yet-properly-renamed-Avengers were forced to fight back.

Than managed to throw Clint off him and stormed towards Loki. "We have some unfinished business, Mr Wanna-Be-A-Girl," he taunted at Loki, who had kicked one of Than's followers to the side.

She glared up at him. "If the only thing you do is insult people, I'd like to know what goes on into your sad little mind," she conjured up a baton and swung it towards the strong man.

Than stopped it and pulled it out of her hand, chucking it away. "Try harder," and proceeded to punch her.

Unfortunately to him, his fist never met her face. Wanda shot a blast from the side at his arm, causing him to stumbled sideways and recoil the punch. "How about you try harder," she stood next to Loki, who had her hands charged with glowing green blasts.

Than stood back up, seemingly amused by the duo. "Aw, I heard about this love story. Two sorceresses. You can do better-" he was cut off when both Wanda and Loki's eyes glew their respective colours and then shot their blasts into one another creating one big beam of dancing colours.

He was blasted back into two of his friends, although he wasn't yet unconscious but close to it. Steve punched down the last standing of the Westwoods. Thor had 'accidentally' knocked Justin down too, although he claimed he didn't see him standing there.

"I can't believe it," Clint panted, tucking his Icer pistol into the belt of his pants.

"You two were amazing," Natasha high-fived Wanda and Loki.

The group took a moment to collect their breath again but they were back up with their weapons when they heard someone land in front of them.

It was Tony.

He was completed suited up and his helmet deconstructed. He glanced at the group and the unconscious bodies. No one attacked him. "Ugh, too bad he's on my own team," he stepped forward to Than, looking down at his motionless body. He gauntlet glew bright blue and he shot a blast onto the Westwood. Tony shrugged at his friends. "He'll be asleep for a few more minutes,"

His helmet appeared again, his voice now a little buzzy. "Oh by the way," he stated before his boosters fired up. "Our entire team knows the location of your flag and an attack is already in motion. I put noise throughout your walkie-talkies so no communication for you," He flew off, everyone knowing he had a grin on underneath his helmet.

The group glanced at each other in silence, some checking their walkie-talkies.

"What are we doing? Let's go defend our flag!" Clint snapped everyone back and they began to jog towards the quarry, hoping to catch the fight.

**...SceneChange...**

In conclusion; everyone decided not to get Wanda and Loki mad, that Tony was someone you'd want on your team, that Clint and Natasha were good at sneak attacks and that Steve no longer liked chocolate ice-cream.

Once everyone got back, not many people were talking as they were exhausted even though it was only 2 pm. All lot of them retreated to their cabins to rest or the crazy ones went to play basketball.

The fight had exhausted them all out. It was the second day of camp and they only had one more night there before they could go home.

Tony pulled himself towards his cabin, thinking about all the upgrades he'd put into his suit when he got back home. Before he could make it to his cabin he felt a numbing pain in his jaw before it turned into a sharp lingering pain. He had been punched.

Tony stumbled to the side, managing to stop himself from falling. He looked up at his attacker. It was Than. Of course.

Tony rubbed his jaw, glaring up at Than as he stood up. "What the hell was that?" he exclaimed. The fight was over, he wasn't allowed to do that.

Than crossed his arms, hovering over the short genius. "That was for your miscellaneous friends who didn't let me fight the winning battle,"

"My friends? Jeez, they were on the other team, they're allowed to do that! You're just a sore loser," Tony spat, standing up to the big Westwood. A crowd was forming and Tony began to wonder where Mr Coulson was.

Than rolled his eyes. "It's more fun to punch you though, to watch you squirm. It's also great fun to watch your _boyfriend _come to save your ass,"

Tony stared at him, his fist clenching behind him, even though he knew he'd never be able to throw a punch against Than without his suit. "My boyfriend? Who the hell are you talking about?" Although Tony knew exactly who he was talking about.

Than let out a hollow laugh. "Your wizard pal you blush around. Have you had your first kiss yet? You guys are lamer than any reality tv show,"

Tony's face went red, from either his anger towards the idiot or from remembering his first time he felt Stephen's lips with his own. "Well-well at least people like me!" Tony stuttered, trying to find words. "No one likes you," he breathed heavily.

Before Than could say anything, the familiar person entered the circle the crowd had formed. Stephen. Tony could say he was glad. Stephen, taller, matched Than's height. He crossed his arms. "What's going on?" he hissed at Than.

Than smirked. "See Stark, your boyfriend came to save you,"

Stephen, not knowing the topic of the argument before he entered, stepped back, flustered. "B-boyfriend?" He spun around to Tony for any signs.

Tony rolled his eyes. "He's not my boyfriend jackass. He's just Stephen," Tony waved his hand in dismissal. He tried to his grin of amusement at Stephen's reaction to the word '_boyfriend_'. "Plus, if you really think a guy like him and a guy like him could work? Have you been to our maths class? We blow up like crazy even when we're friends,"

"This type of pair either works really well together or you blow up," one of Than's followers stated, eying the pair,

Stephen turned to Tony. "What, you think I'm not good enough to date you?"

Tony's frowned in confusion at Stephen's question. "Don't make this harder!" he whispered harshly at him.

Stephen crossed his arms again. "Do you have a certain type or something?"

"We've been over this!" Tony exclaimed, getting frustrated at Stephen again.

"Ooh, so you have talked about this before. Whatever, this is so gay," Than began to walk off before turning around quickly, glaring at Tony. "We're not done yet," and left out of sight.

The crowd turned back to the arguing pair. Stephen sighed. "Come on Tony, you keep getting mad at me for things I don't even know I did,"

Tony stared at him in absurdness. "What do you mean? You're...impossible. We knew this from the beginning, from the moment we met,"

"What, you mean the first test of year 7 and I got one per cent higher than you on the test so you were no longer top in class?" Stephen stared down at the short kid.

Tony nodded. "Exactly. Ever since we met we were never meant to even be friends. We aren't compatible, even to be friends,"

Stephen looked taken aback, realising where the conversation was going. "What do you mean?" he almost whispered.

Tony loosened his tense muscles. "I...I want to go back to how we used to be, before...the first day of year 9,"

"You mean when we would never talk to each other and just be rivals," Stephen confirmed.

"Yes. This whole thing is too stressful," Tony insisted, looking around the crowd. "Everyone's- everyone's shipping us, even the teachers, I swear! It's too much pressure and it's too confusing. I don't want this," he looked up at Stephen, who had taken a step closer to Tony. He stared firmly into the wizard's eyes.

Stephen swallowed. "Are you sure," he hesitantly placed his hand on Tony's shoulder. "I just wanted to know why you were avoiding me so much before. You worry too much and I don't want you to think I did something wrong. Because I don't want you to hate me. I don't want to be rivals," he leaned down and forward a bit to his ears before whispering; "I think I prefer kissing you than fighting you," he straightened up, waiting for a reply from the frozen boy.

Natasha was trying to film the whole thing but Wanda had spazzed her phone out so Natasha was going crazy trying to guess what Stephen whispered into Tony's ear to make him go pale and red at the same time.

Tony opened his mouth but nothing came out. He was just staring into mindless space, completely forgetting where he was, in the middle of the intrigued crowd.

Stephen grinned. "Did I make you, who never shuts up, to stop talking?" he teased, lifting his hand from Tony's shoulder to the back of his head. Ignoring the gasps and clicks from camera's, he leaned down and kissed the stunned Tony Stark.

Lasting only a few seconds, Stephen stood up straight again, looked down at Tony. Tony looked like he was about to faint. He closed his mouth before looking down. For a slight second, Stephen panicked and thought Tony was going to hate him forever for doing that.

Except, instead, the boosters on his feet activated, hovering him up into the air so he could be at eye-level with Stephen. Before anyone could comment or react, including Stephen, Tony had slammed his lips to Stephen's, nearly knocked all wind from his lungs.

Stephen had hardly had a moment to react, even though they had just kissed seconds before. He pressed his tongue to the seam of Stephen's lips and delved inside my mouth. It was a very sloppy kiss with the strong scent of the blood from the game being exchanged in the intermingling of our breaths. Stephen's arms reached up and tangled around his neck.

In an instant, Stephen had pulled away, shocked nonetheless and out of breath. _'What was he doing?' _But Stephen didn't argue. He knew Tony was used to having all the girls he could have, he knew he had kissing experience before and Stephen knew him himself didn't have that experience but he knew he wanted Tony Edward Stark.

"What?" Stephen almost gasped. He basically stumbled backwards, still in shock. _'They kissed in front of everyone,'_

Tony's eyes widened. "That was your fault!" he pointed at Stephen. His face was blushing in multiple different shades of red. He began to walk off.

As he passed through the crowd that was splitting for him, one kid called; "F*g," but Tony punched him without a heartbeat or pausing, causing him to fall back in annoyance. Tony continued to walk off to his cabin, hiding his incredibly hot face.

This left Stephen dumbfounded in the middle of the crowd, which was beginning to clear.

"Dude," Sam began. "I never thought I'd see the two blabbermouths shut each other up so fast," but he ended up being slapped by Bucky.

Natasha put away her phone, annoyed that it wasn't filming because of Wanda. She walked up to Stephen. "What was that man?" she exclaimed, excited as anything.

Stephen put his hands in his pockets awkwardly. "I don't know,"

"Was that your first kiss?" Loki simply asked, taking down her hair.

Stephen's face flushed for the tenth time that day. "No," An eek from Natasha was heard.

"What are you gonna do?" Steve asked.

Stephen shrugged. "Talk to him I guess," he turned around, facing the cabin. "It should be fine," he said, before entering.

ack ! i'm sorry ! i know it isn't wednesday but i got severe p.f.s. [post fandom stress] 3 ! times ! this ! break ! and ! i'm ! dying ! from ! heart ! ache !

there should only be about one/two more chapters of camp left, and then we'll get back to shield academy, meet some new people and begin the spy business ! can't wait !

vote, comment, request, add to your library,

thanks/DJ


	9. EIGHT: Isolation

**"** Just two friends sharing a bed, **"**

**isolation**

_fighting? ooft_

When dinner rolled over, everyone was ecstatic to see what was going to happen between Strange and Stark. Apparently Stephen couldn't find Tony in the cabin and rumours said that he hid in Natasha's cabin so he wouldn't have to face him. Natasha just stared anyone who asked down to hell.

As everyone was lining up to pick up their food, whispers began to rise when Tony did finally enter, with Natasha basically pulling him inside. Everyone's heads turned to Stephen, who was sitting at the group's claimed table, hiding his face. The whole scene after the fight had created an entertainment drama for Westwood and Shield to enjoy, unfortunately.

Tony went to the back of the line, which was getting shorter as the students got served and went back to their seats. "Natasha, did I have to really come?" he asked, trying to avoid eye contact with anyone at their tables. He could feel everyone was staring at him.

"Did you really have to make a scene and _kiss _Stephen?" Natasha rolled her eyes, behind Tony to make sure he didn't runoff.

Tony covered his face with his hands in embarrassment. "Argh, I don't know what I was thinking. What do I do?" he asked, grabbing the tray the chef passed them.

"You've asked that question the past three hours, I. Don't. Know," Natasha answered, probably for the hundredth time that afternoon and evening.

They walked to their claimed table but Tony made sure he sat far from Stephen, on the other side of the table. Once he sat down, he could hear Bruce's voice in his head; _"Is avoiding him really the best idea right now? You should sit near him to advance your 'relationship',"_. He shook his head and picked up his fork, ignoring his friends logic.

"Dude," Loki whispered to Tony, glanced over at Stephen. "What are you doing?" the sorceress was poking her peas, flashing an annoyed glare at him.

Tony shrugged. "Avoiding my problems, as always," he said snarkily, suddenly feeling really tired. He wished Bruce was here to talk some sense into him.

Loki sighed. "Do you want a relationship with Mr Wizard over there?" She made a stabbing motion with her fork towards the kid at the other end of the table.

Tony stared at his food. "I don't know. I've got too many problems to bother about a relationship as well,"

"Last time you said that you threw a huge party and had like, seven make-out sessions that night," Loki frowned, remembering that awful night where she had had to jinx four students so they would leave her alone.

Tony tilted his head in agreement. "I did, didn't I? Maybe I should do it again-"

"Nope," Sam cut Tony off. "I know your parties are great and super but right now, you have to talk to Stephen, otherwise you're gonna end up with bigger problems," he said firmly. "And _then _you can throw a banger party," he added, causing Steve's reaction of; '_Seriously_?'.

Tony took a quick glance at the boy he had kiss only a few hours ago. The boy he kissed. He blinked, looking down. It was odd, he didn't feel wrong about it, kissing him didn't feel wrong either. But he knew his father would freak, probably. If Howard couldn't stand the homosexuals on tv, he doubted he'd stand for this. He didn't even like Stephen as a friend.

"Just relax. See it as..." Steve began, trying to help him. "See it as a school test. What do you do with those?"

Tony frowned at his old friend. "Well, when I first hear about it, I go home and read over every note and textbook that contains information about the test," he answered, sighing when he saw Natasha taking her own notes on her notepad.

"Okay, well then convert that to this situation. Go over every moment you had with Stephen, every thought, every situation and analyze it," Steve continued. Tony titled his head. It wasn't a horrible idea. "What do you do next, on a test?"

Tony thought. "Um, after that I make a ton of flashcards and revise until the date of the test comes. I don't really have to do much because it comes easy to me,"

"Exactly, this should also be easy for you. For the flashcard thing, you're revising, practising and preparing for the actual test, which is actually talking to him," Steve solutionized. "Do that. Practise. Pretend it's a test and if you fail then..." Steve just shrugged.

Tony looked at Natasha. "I guess...how do I practise?"

Natasha looked up at him in glee. "I thought you'd never ask,"

"I didn't ask before and you were still giving me tips on how to ask him out," Tony rolled his eyes.

"Ha! I knew he was hiding with Natasha," Sam looked at Bucky, who now owed five bucks to Sam.

Tony glanced at Stephen, who was talking to Ross. He blinked, unsure of what to feel. Jealously? Stephen and he had just kissed, so how was Ross really going to affect this whole situation? Tony looked back at Natasha, who was blabbering on about how to 'practise'.

They didn't manage to get through it all, because Loki stood up with rice all over her. "What the hell?!" she exclaimed, looking around the room. She had gotten the attention of everyone. "Who threw this?" her eyes landed on Than, who was whispering with his friends. He had a noticeable chunk of his rice missing. "You! You did it, you mewling quim," she raised her hands and before Wanda or anyone could stop her, she blasted a bright green blast at the Westwood.

Once the light had subsided, Than's table was turned sideways and two of his friends seemed to be unconscious from the stun-blast. Than looked a little woozy, sprawled on the ground.

"Jeez Lokes, you're getting in trouble," Tony widened his eyes at the scene.

"Get the b*itch!" another Westwood yelled, at the surprise of everyone, splashing a cup of orange juice on Loki.

The room erupted in a full-on food fight combined with punches. "Avoid using your enhancements, we'll get in trouble-" Steve called out to his friends but only getting a pie- from who knows where- getting shoved into his face.

Natasha stood up, grabbing a bread roll and stuffed it inside the mouth of an approaching Westwood who had a handful of mashed potato. She grabbed the mashed potato from his hands in one swift motion and made it splat onto another Westwood.

Clint crawled underneath an upturned table, nibbling at his cake. "Real waste of food, honestly,"

Thor had a whole batch of pop-tarts and was in the combination of eating them and stuffing them into people's facings whilst yelling; "ANOTHER," every time.

Mr Coulson and all the other camp counsellors were hurrying around, trying to calm the situation, rather unsuccessfully.

Tony had ducked down behind another table that had been knocked over, wiping off some of the whipped cream that had been randomly sprayed onto him as he was avoiding a rainfall of peas. He flinched when someone jumped down next to him, but relaxed a bit when he realized it was only Stephen.

"This is crazy, huh?" Tony laughed, watching the chaotic room that had flying bits of stuff going everywhere.

"Didn't think tonight would end this way," Stephen agreed, summoning a shield that blocked a pizza; Tony swore some Enhanced was mustering up all of this.

"How did you think it was going to end-" Tony was interrupted as a loud bang was heard [later found out to just be a sound effect Coulson had created to silence the group]. Stephen accidentally produced rope type thing as he got startled.

In the following moments- everything was happing in a few seconds- he got knocked over [by 'someone'] and fell onto Tony, getting them both tangled in the golden and sparking rope Stephen couldn't make disappear.

"Try harder!" Tony whispered stiffly, trying to wriggle out of the awkward position. ** [if anyone does recognize this scene- yes it is mirror a scene in the last book when they got in trouble for fighting Hydra...does anyone remember? rip]**

"I can't!" Stephen fiddled with his fingers but they ended up just entwined onto each other. The pair hadn't realized the room was clearing out as Joe and Anthony were sending everyone to their rooms.

To make things worse, Coulson stepped up to them, crossing his arms. "You two, not again,"

"Damn it," Tony cursed under his breath.

Once Coulson helped them untangle themselves and stand up, he seemed very cross. "I didn't think you two were still competing with each other, I thought that rivalry had ended,"

Tony opened his mouth to say they weren't rivals anymore but decided against it.

Coulson sighed. "Look, we tried to help you guys be friends with your previous punishment last term but this time we'll have to try harder," Tony and Stephen glanced at each other. Coulson pointed to where Joe and Anthony were inspecting the messy room. "Go to them and they'll lead you to the Isolation Cabin," and then he left.** [yes, i stole this idea from 'the parent trap' pls don't sue me].**

Tony stared at Stephen. "This Isolation Cabin? That doesn't sound too good,"

"This is your fault," Stephen accused.

"My fault? Excuse me? Who couldn't control his magic? This is on you," Tony pointed at Stephen.

The two slumped to the two head camp counsellors, Stephen spoke first. "Mr Coulson said you'd lead us to the Isolation Cabin,"

"Ah yes, aright," Joe sighed, gesturing for them to follow him. "Go get your stuff and come back. Quickly!" he added when the two began to walk off.

"Jeez, I hope the Isolation Cabin isn't as bad as it sounds," Tony rubbed his neck. The night was beginning to get cold.

"Well, I guess we'd be isolated together for the night," Stephen shrugged, crossing his arms to warm himself.

"Ugh that means I'll be stuck with you," Tony muttered, not realizing he said it out loud.

"I think that's the point," Stephen answered, causing Tony to widen his eyes in realization. Stephen seemed amused. "It's not going to be too bad," he added, just before they entered their cabin to collect their stuff.

Once they entered, Sam and Loki turned the attention to them. "What happened? Did you guys get in trouble?" Sam asked, edging off his bed.

"Yes, they thought we were fighting each other again," Tony replied, grabbing his bag and coat.

Stephen told the punishment. "They've sent us to the 'Isolation Cabin' so, we're not spending the night here,"

"Isolation Cabin? What's that?" Loki frowned.

"I don't know but I guess we'll find out," Stephen pursed his lips and headed to the door to leave. "See you guys in the morning then,"

Tony and Stephen walked through the now sharp cold night back to where Joe was waiting. "Alright, follow me," he ordered, walkig down a track they hadn't seen before. He continued to talk. "In the Isolation Cabin, you're not allowed to talk to anyone else, although In doubt you'll have any problem since there's no cellular service,"

Tony and Stephen glanced at each other sneakily, knowing very well at least 10 people were watching Youtube videos due to Tony's router.

Joe didn't notice the look they gave each other. "Okay, so here it is," he showed them a small cabin. "There's one bathroom, no heating, and if you need anything, we're just over there," Joe pointed back at the black abyss they had come from. He began to walk off, leaving the two standing at the doorstep in confusion.

"I guess it really is an _isolated _cabin," Tony smirked, feeling rather tired.

"It's freezing out here, let's go inside," Stephen pushed open the creaky door.

"It's not warmer in here either," Tony shuddered, dropping his bag on the floor. "No heating is right,"

"Are you kidding me," Stephen stared at the room. Tony looked up and saw what he meant. The cabin, small as it was, had only one other door, which led to the bathroom and one singular small double bed.

"Ughhh," Tony groaned, collapsing onto the bed. "This night couldn't get any worse,"

Stephen took out his toothbrush from his bag and headed into the smaller bathroom. "It could've been worse. You and Than could've been actually fighting and then both of you would've ended up in here,"

Tony flopped up, also getting his toothbrush. "True. I'd end up dead in the morning if he was here instead of you."

"How are you sure you won't end up dead with me?" Stephen teased, once he spat out the contents of his mouth.

Tony playfully punched him. "Because you'd be dead first," Stephen rose his eyebrow, pretending to be impressed. The two finished up in the bathroom and headed out.

"So, what are we gonna do about the bed situation," Stephen crossed his arms.

"Well, I can see on the floor-"

"It's wood, hard, and cold. You really want to sleep on the floor?" Stephen frowned. "It's a double bed, we can both fit on here,"

"Really?" Tony stared at him, unsure. "It's wouldn't be weird,"

"What do you mean? Just two friends sharing a bed," Stephen shrugged, taking off his shoes.

"Two friends who kissed mind you," Tony added, also untying his shoelaces.

**[the camp provides sheets and covers- what type of camp doesn't? i'm kidding, most camps don't but in this, they do] **Stephen shifted the covers so he got get under, although he just sat crossed legged in the little space he made. "And?"

Tony blinked, unsure of what to say. He just crawled up so he was at the head of the bed, doing the same as Stephen. He was on the left side. "Um, I don't know," he replied awkwardly.

"Cool. It's like, nine pm, and we've got to get up at six tomorrow," Stephen glanced at his watch. "Wanna turn the light's off?" his hand hovered over the single lamp on his side.

"Good idea," Tony agreed, entering the covered and turning away from Stephen. The cabin went black and it took a few blinks and moments until Tony's eyes adjusted to the dark.

He could feel Stephen lie down. Tony bit his lip and turned so he was flat on his back. He realized they only had about just under 30 centimetres between them. He would almost feel the heat radiating off Stephen's body.

"You alright?" Stephen whispered, who was also laying on his back.

"Yeah," Tony whispered back. He edged his hand to the middle of the bed. Stephen must've noticed this movement because soon Tony felt Stephen's hand clasp his own. It was warm. He shut his mouth.

"Cold?" Stephen asked.

"Nope," Tony lied. He was trying not to shiver, or show any signs of being cold.

"Alright," Stephen said, "Goodnight then,"

"Night,"

**...SceneChange...**

Every dream with Tony was the same. Hollow. Empty. Deep blackness. Unless he was exhausted or extremely happy, his mind screamed at nights.

And each time he woke up breathing heavily and clutching the blank air around him.

This time was no different.

Tony forgot he was in a cabin with Stephen, forgot he was even at camp. So when he shot up, almost panting, he froze for a second before realizing where he was. Before realizing who he was with. Stephen.

Tony turned to his side to face Stephen, who was sleeping peacefully. He could see him through the thin moonlight that shone through the tinted window on the other side of the singular roomed cabin.

His heavy breathing lessened and he put his hands together as he sat upright on the bed in silence.

"Tony?" Stephen's mumbly voice surprised Tony. He glanced back down at his sleeping friend. Stephen's eyes were half-open as he drowsily propped himself with his arm to look at Tony. "What are you doing up?"

Tony's eyes widened. "I...uh, couldn't sleep,"

Stephen collapsed on his back. He was still half asleep. "Lie down," he mumbled, fumbling at Tony's arm, pulled Tony down closely next to him. Stephen then rolled on his side, facing Tony. "Sleep..." he whispered, his arm going limp above Tony's own body.

Tony frowned and turned his head to the side, looking at Stephen. Stephen's face only a few centimetres away, Tony could tell he fell back to sleep. Tony sighed and tried to shift Stephen's arm off him but ended up tangled in the covers and his own limbs.

His muscles were getting sore again from the day's work and now this, so he gave up, with Stephen basically unconsciously cuddling him.

Tony found himself showing a small grin after staring at Stephen's sleeping face and then closed his eyes.

He lost himself in the empty abyss again, but this time he had Stephen with him.

**sorry about that, i finished all my homework on the holidays and now i don't have any homework :o. it's so weirrrd but i have so much free time i forgot i had priorities [i just watched a lot of buzzfeed unsolved] **

**vote, comment, request, and add to your library**

**thanks/**DJ


	10. NINE: Bloodbath After An Assembly

**"** trying to climb a rope without being able to see or hear is a challenge, **"**

**bloodbath after an assembly**

_home_

It was Tony's phone that woke them both up. Bruce was calling them at 6 am in the morning for some reason and Tony almost fell off his bed in surprise. He grabbed his phone blindly out of his bag and answered it.

"Bruce?" he mumbled, rubbing his eyes, still lying in bed.

"Tony! You answered I didn't think-"

"It's 6 am, Bruce," Stephen called through the covers at Tony's phone.

"Is that Stephen?" Bruce asked.

"He's in my cabin, remember," Tony sighed. "What do you need?" he collapsed back onto his bed.

"Well, I know I could've just told you this afternoon when you arrived back to school but I figured it'd be more fun this way," Bruce began. "The school just announced that there's going to be an assembly tomorrow talking about exchange students coming to our school,"

"Exchange students?" Tony frowned, still trying to process the thoughts so early in the morning.

"Yeah, we don't know the full details yet but it's going to be chaotic apparently. There's going to be supposedly at least ten new kids for year 9 as part of the exchange program,"

"What? Why?" Tony stared at the blank roof.

"I don't know, something about the 'Specialized Program' or something. It's a government thing. They're going to explain it tomorrow in assembly and also, they're supposed to arrive at school on Monday," Bruce rambled, Tony could tell he was making breakfast on the other side of the phone.

"Great," Stephen sighed, shoving himself deeper into the covers.

Bruce sighed through the phone. "Anyways, I can't wait until you guys get back this afternoon, don't die!"

"Yeah," Tony gave a small smile he knew his old friend couldn't see. He still hadn't told him about the new events with Stephen. "Well, catch you later,"

"Okay, bye Tony, bye Stephen,"

Tony's phone beeped as he hung up and Tony collapsed back onto the bed. "Ugh, it's so early,"

"Really? I thought you got up really early normally," Stephen frowned, turning his body to face Tony.

"Yeah, I'm still tired anyways," Tony rubbed his eyes.

"Why'd you wake up last night?" Stephen sat up, crossing his legs as he briefly remembered the night before.

Tony subtly avoided Stephen's eyes. "Um, I don't know, I can't remember,"

"Are you sure?" Stephen frowned. "I remember very little too. What'd I do? I remember talking to you shortly,"

"Yeah," Tony rubbed his neck. "You did," then Tony remembered he wasn't supposed to know what had happened. "Although I don't remember what you said," he quickly added.

"Hopefully it wasn't anything too embarrassing," Stephen chuckled, glancing at his watch. "Should we get up? Coulson said we should be at breakfast by 7:15,"

"We've got about 40 minutes until then we'll be fine," Tony sighed, turning on his phone.

"So..." Stephen stared at Tony in the awkward silent moments that followed. Tony was scrolling through his phone with the wifi he had managed to acquire in the middle of nowhere in which they were. Stephen pursed his lips and took out his own phone.

"I'll hotspot you," Tony simple stated, tapping on his screen.

Almost immediately Stephen was connected to wifi. "Thanks," he muttered, entering Instagram. He spotted Tony's 'active' symbol on his icon.

He scrolled through his feed, his eyes skipping the miscellaneous posts from random accounts. None of their friends really posted anything since none of them had any access to the internet.

"Hey check this out, Clint hacked the teachers cabin wifi," Tony held up his phone so Stephen could see his screen. It was a selfie of Clint with an unconscious Westwood with the caption: "got 'em today, the pesky things".

"Wow," Stephen's eyes flickered to Tony's dm symbol, which said he had about 45 unread messages. "Why've you got so many messages?" he asked.

Tony lowered his phone to see what he meant. After a few clicks, he answered, "I don't know, they're mostly from girls,"

Stephen formed a small smirk. "Still the ladies man? I completely forgot about that," he stood up, grabbing his toothbrush out of his bag.

"Forgot? What do you mean?" Tony frowned, his eyes following Stephen into the bathroom, where the door was kept open as he began to brush his teeth.

"Well, I guess us kissing throw me off a bit," Stephen shrugged, making Tony almost cough in immediate awkwardness.

Tony shifted in his crossed-legged position on the bed. "I mean, I suppose," he looked down at the 'unread' icons in his DM inbox. He could have any girl he wanted. All these people lining up just to talk to him, and for some reason, he was here, in an 'isolation' cabin with Stephen Strange, his forever rival.

There was silence. And more silence after that. The pair had quietly gotten ready, with some 'excuse me's or 'whoops, sorry's. Tony wanted to punch himself as they walked down to breakfast. If Bruce were there, he'd shove him into Stephen. If Natasha were there right there and then, she'd tie them up together and leave them in the forest to deal with things. Unluckily though, neither of Tony's closest friends were there to help.

The moment they reached civilisation (the main camp), Tony sprinted off towards where Natasha was trying to help Bucky get back his arm from Sam.

And that left Stephen to find refuge with Wanda and Loki, who was talking to Ross and Val.

Breakfast skipped by pretty fast, the group in the usual chaos (although Coulson had split up the big table so the group had to sit at separate tables, thus resulting in Tony and Stephen different tables for breakfast).

The activities were pretty calm as well, much to Coulson's delight. They had strategically split the groups into mini-groups to do 'rotation' activities around the camp, ultimately splitting Stephen, Ross, and Tony up with gross Westwood students.

And when finally they hit the road, a lot of the Shield students were too tired to make too much of a hassle so Coulson managed to sleep the whole way back.

**...SceneChange...**

**~*~super sorry for the time skip, i hate doing it but i'm so tired so stuff that; i did a time skip~*~**

Loki frowned in the bathroom mirror. Camp had seemed so long, home felt a tiny bit odd. He sat crossed-legged on the spinning chair that was in the bathroom, quickly glancing at the clock on the wall.

8:20 am. School started in 20 minutes.

He gently rubbed his eyes, as that was his main problem right then. Bags had formed under his eyes due to the prank war he had going on with Clint behind everyone's eyes during camp. He had stayed up pretty much all night every night and now it almost looked like he had two black eyes.

He sighed and looked at his hands. Even his own magic was limited and it would take too long to find a spell to get rid of it, or even hide it.

"I guess I'll have to do it the _muggle _way," he muttered, annoyed, picking up the foundation bottle up, ready to apply it before Thor came in, demanding the bathroom to do his 'luxurious' hair.

After a stressful ten minutes, Loki chucked the make-up into the drawer and then cast a spell to lock it. He hopped off the spinning chair, straightening out his crumply clothes that consisted of black jeans and a plaid jacket.

It may still technically be the first day of school that term but he didn't give a-

"LOKI! Hurry up!" Thor banged on the bathroom door.

Loki sighed and opened the door for his loud brother. "What?"

"We will be late for school," Thor huffed, pushing past Loki, already grabbing his hairbrush to comb his long _golden _hair.

"_You _will be late," Loki corrected, already at the end of the hallway, where his bedroom was, picking up his packed bag.

"Because of _your _lengthy time in the bathroom!" Thor answered back, his voice fading as Loki hopped down the stairs to the front door.

"Loki!" Frigga's gently voice echoed through the wall from the kitchen where she was most probably making Thor's lunch.

"Yea?" Loki glanced at his watch. 8:35 am. He was going to have to run to school in five minutes.

Frigga appeared from the kitchen. "Have fun at school darling. I heard there is going to be an informative assembly this morning at your school. I hope you get to show one of the new kids around,"

"New kids?" Loki frowned, but his mother hurried him out of the door.

"You're going to be late,"

And then Loki sprinted, looking back down at his watch. He was going to be late and that was it. His house was a few blocks away from the school and it normally took ten minutes to walk there.

He paused as he entered the gates of the empty courtyard to SHIELD Academy. The bell was still ringing. He panted, leaning a bit against the gate, catching his breath.

"Loki," someone matched Loki's panting. "Hey," Loki turned around to face Bruce.

"Hey. Bruce, haven't seen you in a while," Loki stood up straighter, adjusting himself.

"Yeah," Bruce nodded, pacing forward as Loki began to walk towards the main doors. "Wait, we're late, everyone's in the gym for the assembly," Loki changed directions, following Bruce towards the big building next to the main one.

The two of them walked normal speed to the front doors into the main building. "How's school life been without us?" Loki asked.

"Not awful. I mean, you took most of Hydra with you so there wasn't too much trouble. We had a lot more effective learning classes since you guys weren't there to distract anyone," Bruce smiled teasingly. "But it has been too quiet. I'm glad you guys are back,"

"Why are you late?" Loki fiddled with the straps of his backpack.

"Oh, problems with the traffic. My mom was late too so she told me to run to school halfway on our way here," Bruce shrugged.

"Wow," Loki held the door open for Bruce when they got to the main gym entrance. "Thor's even later than me so,"

The pair quietly entered the gym and sat on the edges of the bleachers as Maria Hill continued whatever she was saying.

Ms Hill stood up on the pedestal and began talking again. "As I was saying, as most of you know, SHIELD is one of the extremely few schools around the globe to host a training program for any Enhanced youths or even to have a Specialized program. The Government is offering an exchange program, for some of the best students from around America to come to SHIELD for a few weeks to experience a school with such facilities.

"These students are just like you guys, some physically Specialized, mentally Specialized, some Enhanced, so I hope you all can welcome them nicely," Maria looked up, glaring down Malekith's snickers.

She continued; "They will be arriving and attending here beginning tomorrow and I have selected a few of you to show them around. They come from the following schools,"

She glanced down at her sheet of paper. "Oscorp High, New Mexico Scientific Institute (NMSI), Xander Collage and Westwood," there was a series of significant groans from Loki and Bruce's group, who were sitting higher up on the bleachers. Loki and Bruce were stuck on the bottom due to their lateness.

Maria coughed. "I said, I'm sure you'll all let them feel welcome. They are here to experience our school and the Enhancement and Specialized System because their schools are planning to take on the system as well. We are helping students like most of you, who have been criminalised and attacked for being given enhancements," she looked over to Fury, who was standing to the side. "Passing to you, sir," she stepped down.

Fury stepped up, looking around the gym. "I do hope we can help accomplish this and help the other schools. This is a big step for America, accepting this new reality, and SHEILD is here to help push it along. Once America can establish such systems to help special individuals, the rest of the world can follow along, making the world a better and safer place," He glared down the smirking Hydra students.

He looked down at his sheet of paper. "Okay, that is all for this week. You may go an continue with your classes," he stepped down and the teachers stood together discussing something.

Students began to hustle and voices rose as they many students tried to leave the gym. Except for the Combats class, since they had... well combats class.

Once the bleachers were basically cleared, Loki and Bruce climbed up the stairs. "Hey guys," Bruce smiled, as he hovered near Tony.

"Sup Bruce, I missed you yesterday," Clint high-fived his friend.

"You don't have Specialized," Natasha frowned, as she saw the last of the other students leave the gym, so there was only them the collection of the rest of their Combats Class.

Bruce nodded. "I don't, but I do have special permission from Fury to observe your classes," he blinked as his friends stared at him for more information on this odd permission Bruce had. "It's...for an assignment. I realised I actually haven't ever seen a Combat's Class before,"

"Now that's a lie," Tony began. "You've come in here once or twice...how about that time last year? Near the time we got suspended for accidentally flooding the bathrooms?"

Bruce looked amused. "You mean the time I had to come in here to take Steve to the principle's office and you and Nat were stuck hanging upside down because Loki broke the gymnastic swings?"

Tony fidgeted. "Yea...oh well, that's the past. Now you get to see all the glorious training we go through,"

Bruce laughed. "Sure, glorious,"

"What assignment is this?" Loki frowned, trying to remember which classes Bruce picked for this semester.

Bruce's eyes widened. "Um, it's like...a surprise assignment. You'll find out on recess once I report back to Fury," he spluttered, rather obvious he was lying. The group shrugged, knowing if they didn't find out by recess they'd find out on their own terms by lunch.

"Alright!" Coulson's voice rang through the gym. "I don't want any shenanigans like from camp, alright!" He looked at his clipboard. "We are going to do some blindfold fighting,"

There were some groans that rippled from the students. "Blindfolded?" Bruce whispered.

"We did it once last year and it didn't end too well," Clint filled him in.

"Because Clint decided he was going to do archery while blind!" Natasha rolled her eyes.

"Hey!-"

"Shut it you two," Coulson shushed Clint. He continued with his instructions. "You are going to pick partners and get these blindfolds," he pointed to the box of fabric next to him. "Then you are going to do some close-range fighting, no Enhancements as usual and if you are Skilled, please try to not use your skill sets to your advantage. This exercise is to practise fighting without one of your senses and being aware of your surroundings,"

That was all Coulson could get out before he was drowned out by the many students running to the box, next to him mind you, to grab the blindfolds. Sentences like; "Ten bucks I blind you permanently," were passed around.

The group left Bruce with a couple "byes," and a "watch me beat Sam,". Bruce sat intently as he took out his own file on who he was going to choose for the special assignment Fury gave him. He watched as Bucky and Sam were both fighting for the rainbow blindfold.

The students tied the blindfolds around their heads and Coulson blew his whistle and chaos erupted. Students were wobbling in directions, slapping each other and Bruce swore he saw someone dack someone else.

"Alright, alright, everyone, STOP!" Coulson waved everyone done. "Since no one's doing the actual task, I have a flag. I am going to give it to someone who none of you will know who except that who I give it to. Everyone else needs to try and get that flag. The person holding the flag when twenty minutes is over wins. Everyone for themselves, but no maiming or blood!" Coulson quickly added as everyone began to flail their arms, attempting to fight the person next to them.

Coulson ducked under someone's punch and shoved the flag into Malekith's hands and then ran off to safety. Bruce observed as Malekith grinned but as he stepped back, Thor had managed to lift him up, causing him to drop the flag onto Wanda.

She grabbed it in surprise and blocked a punch from someone, even more surprised at her own reflexes. Bruce saw her bump into Loki, who they exchanged some words with. After a bit, Loki tried to get the flag off Wanda but she smirked and ran behind Steve so Loki flipped over him instead.

Bruce's eyes darted around the squabble that was in the middle of the gym as the flag went around to almost every person like it was pass-the-parcel. He was then secretly glad he wasn't in Specialised, compared to those guys, he was a punching bag.

Blood did begin to cover the floor, but mostly from blood noses that no one really cared about as they did sidekicks and backhand springs to get the flag off people they didn't even know the identity of.

Bruce glanced at Coulson as he observed the blood get smudged around the gym as the student's shoes dragged pools of it everywhere. Coulson looked less concerned that one of them might have passed out and more concerned about how much he was going to tip the janitor to clean up the new mess they had made.

After a long twenty-minutes, the timer rang out and everyone took their blindfolds off, panting. The moment they saw that Clint and Natasha were hanging from the ropes that hung from the wall, basically slap fighting at that point an uproar arose.

"Take off your blindfolds!" Coulson finally called up to the troublesome pair. Natasha froze, then peeled off her blindfold and ripped off Clints, to his surprise, before they both stared down at the rest of the students. "Come down," Coulson sighed.

As the two slid down the ropes with their blindfolds in their hands and Natasha holding the flag under her arm, Clint rolled his eyes saying, "Better give back my hearing aids otherwise there's going to be hell to pay,"

Natasha sighed and chucked the bloodied flag to Coulson and shoved Clint's hearing aids into his hands.

"Thank you very much," Clint made a dramatic face as he connected them back up to his ear. "Trying to climb a rope without being able to see or hear is a challenge,"

"Stop flexing," Bucky and Sam called in unison from the back of the group.

"Well, I guess Miss Romanov won that," Coulson said, to the complaints of "But she always wins". He took out a handkerchief to wipe the blood that hand smeared off the flag onto him. "And use the last ten minutes of class to clean yourselves. Go to the nurses if you have bigger cuts,"

The students broke off into murmurs and Bruce crossed his arms as his friends approached the bleachers again. "That was interesting,"

"Yeah, well now do you believe me when I say this class is literally a bloodbath?" Tony said, grabbing one of the wet towels Steve had grabbed and passed to the others.

Most of them had small cuts from fingernails, or punches and had blood blotched around their limbs. They began to rub themselves with the towels to get rid of the blood before it dried.

"How come you are not blood-soaked?" Thor said to Stephen, as he patted his biceps.

Everyone looked up at Stephen, who had his nose in his book again, without a hair out of place. "Hm?" he lowered the book. "Oh, in the Sanctum we practise doing stuff without our sense of sight. It was quite easy to avoid all of your attacks,"

"Were you reading the whole time?" Clint asked.

He received a playful punch from Natasha. "How's he supposed to read if he's blindfolded?"

"Oh yeah..."

"No, I was fighting too, when necessary. Let's just say Malekith may have a very dark bruise in the shape of the Avengers symbol on his back," Stephen frowned as he smirked.

Tony coughed, turned away. Bruce blinked in confusion as he swore as he saw a blush creep up on Tony's face. Bruce shook his head and stood up. "Well, if we're all cleaned up, I'm sure we can leave right, Coulson said we could," he hopped down to a lower stair.

"Leave? We've still got like five minutes of class left, you always insist on waiting until the very last second to leave," Tony joked, picking up his jacket.

"Someone got a little naughty," Sam joked, following the group down the bleachers.

"Well someone had to replace the mischevious kids while you guys were away," Bruce winked. "Plus, avoid the third level's bathrooms I think it's still pretty gross after Tuesday's prank,"

"Prank? You were involved in a prank? Who are you and what have you done with Bruce!" Tony caught up to Bruce, with a surprised face on.

Bruce laughed, glad his friends were back. He clutched the files he had with him close to his chest as they walked to the cafeteria to get some food (more like muffins and chips as it was recess). He had to report to Fury about his decision.

**well, that's an update. if you've been keeping up with my messages on my feed you'll know why this took agesss to upload. if you haven't, well in a nutshell, a lot of drama and assignments hit me like a brick, thus, the super late update. now, i did say i had exams that eneded on thursday so i'd update then...but here we are, one update and no studying later, i do have exams tomorrow and thursday but OHWELL. this is more important rip my life.**

**also, quick update with the story, i really DID NOT think it would take nine chapters to finish the 'camp' part of the this book (i thought like three...or maybe even four) so it was so much longer than i thought, but it's fine. we have some new things coming up, super excited to write it all up! **

**so, who do you think is going to be chosen for fury's secret mission to spy for a bad guy within shield? Who do you think are going to be the new student exchange kids? \0o0/**

**vote, request, comment and add to your library**

**thanks/**DJ


	11. TEN: Introducing Weirdos

**" **she also wore a bright pink scrunchie that would've had violated at least ten of Natasha's 'no-no' clothes list **"**

**introducing weirdos**

_exchange students_

When they left the cafeteria to their usual spot in the school's gardens, Bruce pulled Tony away and left them as they walked down the hallways.

"What are we doing?" Tony asked, looking back at the fading voices of their friends.

"I need to go to Fury's office for the assignment,"

"Why bring me along?"

"Well since you've been with them for the last three days I figured you wouldn't mind me stealing you for a bit," Bruce tilted his head to his science buddy. "Plus, we need to talk," he turned to face Tony as they walked into the elevator. "I saw you blush when Stephen made that comment back at the gym. What happened with you guys on camp?"

Tony crossed his arms in awkwardness. "Um, I don't really know,"

"What does that even mean?"

"Well we kissed-"

"You what?!" Bruce almost shoved him. "And you said you didn't know what happened- alright, what the fvck happened? Did he do it? Did you?"

Tony swayed on his feet playfully as he stared at the ground, pretty sure he was as red as the jacket Wanda stole from Wanda that other day. "Um..well the first time-"

"First time!?" Bruce almost dropped all of his stuff. "And you didn't tell me?"

"I'm telling you now!" Tony exclaimed, getting stressed out as Bruce did. "Plus it's pretty hard to hack a security mainframe I created!"

"Alright, alright, just tell me what happened," Bruce steadied his breaths.

Tony rolled his eyes. "Alright fine. Both times he kissed first. The first time we were alone in the cabin and he was on my bed and we were talking about that rocket I made when I was seven and then things led to things and he kissed me and I almost fell off the bed-"

"Of course you did. And rockets? Nerds," Bruce teased.

"Do you want to hear the story?" Tony fumed. Bruce shut up. Tony continued. "Then I was lying on the bed and he kissed me again. Then everyone got back from their activities and nothing else happened,"

"And the second time?" Bruce edged on, as both of them stepped out of the elevator.

"It was after the Hunger Games activity and Than had punched me-" Tony ignored Bruce's comment. "-and then Stephen came to help but Than called him my boyfriend, the usual teasing and then he left, leaving Stephen and I arguing-" He again ignored Bruce's more comments. "-and then he kissed me, in front of everyone! By the way! When we stopped, I then kissed him..." he held his hands to his face. "Oh no...why did I do that? The whole Specialized Year 9's now know about this ughhhh," he groaned.

"Relax," Bruce assured, hiding his laughter. "It is kinda funny. You guys are weird. Have you talked about it yet?"

"No," Tony sighed. "We got in trouble after that, during a food fight so we got sent to the Isolation cabin where we had to share a bed and all that-"

"Wow, this is getting pretty explicit," Bruce joked. "I'm kidding!" he added when Tony glared at him. "You should definitely talk to him. How did you not when you were sleeping together in a room? This Isolation Cabin sounds pretty intense,"

Tony shook his head. "We didn't talk about it. It was awkward when the camp leader left and then we began to joke about, as you do, but then he mentioned the whole kissing thing and then it got really awkward again...so we kinda ignored each other until...well right now,"

They paused outside of Fury's office. Bruce stared at his friend. "Well you better think about talking to him." and then he knocked on the door.

"Come in,"

Before they entered, Bruce whispered to Tony, "Wait out here, I'll explain everything later," and then he entered, leaving Tony outside, waiting.

Tony sat on the waiting chairs that were in the hallway. He was so used to sitting on these chairs in the previous years. He sighed and wondered what the 'secret assignment' was about.

He looked up to the roof when he heard an announcement coming along. It was Fury's voice. "Can Natasha Romanov, Loki Odinson, Clint Barton and Stephen Strange please come to the principal's office? Romanov, Odinson, Barton and Strange? Thank you,"

Tony frowned and looked down the empty corridor. Why would the secret assignment need his friends? It was definitely odd.

A few moments later, the four students approached the door.

"Hey Tony, do you know what this is about?" Natasha asked as Stephen knocked on the door. Tony shrugged, staying seated as they entered.

The four sat down next to Bruce on the couch, confused since they had just gotten back from camp so they couldn't have gotten in trouble from any pranks. "I promise whatever I did it wasn't me," Clint held his hands up as if he was surrendering.

"You haven't done anything," Fury sighed, slightly amused at the quirky group. "We have a top-secret mission for you four," and he explained what he explained to Bruce.

He explained the whole 'secret base under the school', why they almost died last term, the arc-reactor/powerful power source/the student card/double agents in the school and the 'they now need to secretly spy on everyone' thing to them.

"So the reason the school got shot down was because some dumb-ass bad guys couldn't get a power source and wanted to steal ours?" Clint pouted as if it were just some inconvenience.

"You guys used Tony, his intelligence and his talents for SHIELD's benefits and didn't even tell him?" Stephen almost glared at Fury himself.

"We get to spy on people?" Loki grinned, rubbing his hands together.

"Is it completely secret?" Natasha asked, asking probably the only useful question at that point.

"Yes, it has to be kept completely secret, even from your friends. Only the people in this room are allowed to know about this assignment and other high-ranking officials. If people found out children were being tasked with such a dangerous mission, you'd all be in a lot of danger," Fury affirmed.

Bruce spoke up. "Can I tell Tony?"

"No,"

Bruce pursed his lips. "As Stephen said, you are using his inventions without his knowledge. He is very smart, a genius you could even say. He will find out. He can keep a secret, let me tell him and save you a mess to clean up when he does find out,"

"Is that a threat?" Fury raised his eyebrow.

"Did I stutter?" Bruce stared dead in his principle's eyes. "I will tell him, nonetheless, so you don't win anything but a nice clean floor in your office," his straight face broke into a smirk and he left the office, leaving the other four in silence.

"Well, I guess I'll be off. Thanks for the fancy files you sent us," Clint waved his phone at Fury as he followed Bruce out, the rest of them silently walked out with him.

"Damn Bruce," Stephen chuckled, closing the door.

"What happened?" Tony stood up, still confused.

"I'll explain," Bruce sighed with a wide grin.

The six of them walked down, knowing the bell would ring soon, so they headed to the classrooms. Bruce explained everything to Tony.

"I knew they used some of my programs, but a bunch of my inventions and stuff from science projects?" Tony shook his head. "This is so stupid,"

"Yeah," Bruce shrugged.

"But imagine if the shooters knew it was you they shot? They would've stolen you and done worse things to get that thing out of your chest," Loki stated, pointing to Tony's faintly glowing chest.

Tony looked down, with a blank expression. "Even if they did know it was me, they wouldn't have been able to get through Stephen," he avoided the gaze of his friends.

There was some silence before Clint spoke. "So, what class do we even have? I kinda deleted the email of our new timetables,"

"We have Maths, stupid," Natasha rolled her eyes as she opened her locker door.

"Right," Clint stared at Natasha, blinking.

Tony glanced at Bruce, who nodded towards Stephen, who was taking out his books from his locker. Tony frowned and shook his head, unlocking his own locker. Bruce sighed and went to get his stuff.

**...SceneChange...**

By the time lunch rolled in, Clint had a black eye and Natasha was shoving an icepack on it.

"I tell you, I'm fine, I don't need it,"

"You do! If I punch the other eye, you'd look like a panda!" Natasha insisted. The two arrived at the circle of tables they always hung at.

"What happened?" Wanda eyed Clint's black eye.

"He was an idiot," Natasha rolled eyes, taking a spot next to Steve.

"I was not!" Clint said indignantly. "He was insulting you big time!"

"Who?"

"Zola. I had it all under control and Clint took the punch," Natasha explained, stuffing herself with the sandwich she had.

"Zola did that?"

"No, his friend did, the one with the hat? You know? He did it," Clint corrected, stealing one of Natasha's strawberries.

"Why are you so silent?" Bruce asked Tony, who was on his phone.

"Nothing, I was just..." he looked up from his phone. "Most of us have been assigned to show around the exchange kids,"

"Huh?" and with that, everyone's phone's were out.

"Who's doing it?" Wanda leaned over Loki since her phone had been brutally destroyed on camp due to an unfortunate yacht incident.

"Um...Tony's showing around Oscorp," Loki began.

"Thor and I are showing around NMSI," Bruce added.

"Sam, Bucky and I are showing around Xander College," Stephen continued.

"And I'm showing around Westwood," Natasha groaned.

"F in the chat for Nat," Thor said, much to Loki's great dislike.

"Who you reckon's exchanging?" Steve asked, taking a bite of his apple.

"Well, I know that NMSI, New Mexico Scientific Insitute is in New Mexico and we aren't," Tony shrugged.

"Where's Xander College?" Sam asked, trying to unlock Bucky's phone.

"I think it's in California?"

"Where are we?" Clint stupidly asked.

"New York idiot,"

"Xander College is in California," Stephen Googled then added, "And Oscorp is in Florida,"

"Well, I guess we have no idea who these kids are," Bucky dully stated.

"Except with our luck, Than will be one of the Westwood kids," Steve 'ughed'.

**...SceneChange...**

When the next day of school came by, Natasha regretted it. She managed to pull herself out of bed and out the door, down the streets and to the school. At 8:30, a little earlier to due to the 'showing around' she and the others had to do.

She hauled her ass down to the Combats Gym, where she was meeting everyone, finding her friends, Tony, Bruce, Thor, Sam, Bucky, and Stephen, who were all going to show the exchange students around.

"How am I the last one here?" Natasha rubbed her eyes in tiredness as she approached them, who were sitting on the bleachers.

"I came with Tony, who left super freaking early," Bruce answered in a monotone voice as he continued to chug his coffee. Tony just shrugged.

"Fury said to get here early so..." Thor shrugged. "I'm sure Loki is somewhere in the library,"

Natasha shivered in the winter coldness **(? i dunno the seasons in america so i'm chucking some good ol' life-threatening australian seasons at you guys).** "Ugh, when are they coming?"

And right on cue; Fury entered with a trail of students, all also in coats and some in scarves on. "Here are the students who will be showing all of you around," Fury introduced, walking them up to where they were on the bleachers. The group grumpily stood up to greet the exchange students.

Fury faced the exchange students. "These are some of the best students we have here at SHIELD, and they have been allocated to your school groups to continue the tours. I hope you feel welcome and have fun," Even sleep deprived, Natasha found Fury say 'fun' weird as. "I will go now, so enjoy your morning," and with that, Fury left.

"Um...so," Tony rubbed his hands when his eyes fell on Than, who was at the back fo the group, grinning at him. Tony faltered. "Um..."

Stephen sighed and stood up. He ignored Natasha waving happily at Val, who had brightened up from standing next to Than. Stephen noticed Everett Ross at the back too, with Than and Val from Westwood. Those three were the only people they recognised.

Stephen coughed. "Well, my name's Stephen Strange, and I'm an Enhanced," he received a few 'oohs'. "Um, well I guess we should split up in your school groups...my friends, Bucky and Sam, and I will be taking the Xander College students around, so if you're from there... come over here," Stephen walked a few metres away from the group, Sam and Bucky following.

Five students followed them to the side.

**Stephen's POV:**

The three of us stood in front of the small group presented to us. As I glanced over to see the others, I could tell we had the biggest group, probably why there were three of us showing them around.

I looked back at our group. We had five people, three girls and two boys it seemed. Since Bucky and Sam were too busy shoving each other around, I began to talk.

"Um, so, this is Sam and Bucky," I pointed to the duo behind me.

"I'm Sam, the cooler one. I'm a Skilled,"

"And I'm Bucky, the much more good looking one. I'm an Enhanced,"

I sighed. "Um so...let's go outside," I led them outside, to the gardens and we sat down a bit at one of the circle tables like the ones we hung out at. "So-" I was interrupted by one of the girls, the blonde one.

"'scuse me, but what is the meaning behind being Skill or Enhanced? Or Specialised? It is a bit confusing," she asked.

"Um, well, at this school you apply as either a Specialized or as a to-be agent. If you apply as a to-be agent, you take...well agent-like course I guess. If you're a Specialised you're either a Skilled or Enhanced. If you have an Enhancement or Enhanced abilities, you're an Enhanced. If you're just really good at something, like archery, for example, you're a Skilled," I tried to explain.

"Awesome," she replied.

"So, how about you tell us some names," Sam said, leaning on the table, winking at one of the girls with a pixie-cut.

That girl rolled her eyes and answered. "My name's Nebula," she simply stated. 'Nebula' (strange name, but I guess I can't complain) had black hair, in a pixie-cut. She wore a dark purple cropped hoodie, black leggings and shin-high boots.

We all glanced at the others. The other girl answered next. "I'm Gamora," she said in cold hard voice. She also had black hair, with faint red highlights. She had nice green eyeshadow but a glare-stare that could possibly kill you. Maybe even worse than Nat's, I figured. She was wearing a lot of leather. She had leather pants, boots, and bracelet things like Wanda and Loki wore. She didn't have a leather jacket but had on a grey singlet. In this cold.

"Ah, don't worry about those two. They're just two angry sisters," one of the guys with a poofy and slightly dyed white hair cut shrugged.

"Adopted," Gamora almost growled.

"Well, we got friends who are rival siblings. They argue a lot," Bucky added for relevancy or something like that. "They're adopted too. That's weird cool, you guys will have something in common!"

The sisters rolled their eyes but the guy with the crazy hair who spoke earlier began to talk. "My name's not important but you can call me Rocket," he took out what looked like a broken walkie-talkie and was poking at it with a screwdriver. Apart from questioning where he got the walkie-talkie, I questioned his outfit choice of a baggy black jeans and a t-shirt. These guys must be used to the cold.

"We've got friends who love that sorta thing too!" Bucky said. "Poking stuff with stuff. Got us in a quite a mess multiple times," he and Sam cracked up. I sighed.

"Well, my name's Carol Danvers. It's such a marvel meeting you! Are you really an Enhanced?" The blonde exclaimed. She seemed much more chill and joyful than the rest. She wore the classic jeans and a black leather jacket. She also wore a bright pink scrunchie that would've had violated at least ten of Natasha's 'no-no' clothes list.

"Uh, yeah," I muttered, doing a few motions with my hands, creating a small knife, which I pointing to Sam and Bucky. "Stop fighting," I said to them, and they stopped (they were poking each other just before).

"Whoa!"

"Stop being a suck-up," the last kid fumed. "I'm Peter Quill," he beamed. 'Peter Quill' was wearing an obnoxious puffy vest like in Back To The Future and jeans. He had his pockets full of what seemed to be candy bars and earphones.

"So...uh, are any of you Enhanced or whatever?" Bucky asked.

"I am!" Carol jumped up. "Watch,"

"Careful-" Gamora reminded, but Carol was already into it. She held out her hand and it began to glow really bright and then a blast shot out of her arm. The blast hit the cement wall of the gym.

"Whoops," she flinched, as a black scorch mark appeared on the wall.

"Don't worry about that, this school is 'Enhanced Proof'. There are a bunch of marks like those around the school," I assured her. "But that's cool,"

"Uhuh!"

"Ugh," Gamora sighed.

"Don't be so bummed out," Peter began to say but Rocket cut him off.

"I'm not Enhanced, only Carol is," he said. "But I'm good at engineering and stuff," he shrugged.

"What about you," Bucky asked Nebula. "I saw your arm-" but he received a death glare from her. He silenced but then saw some remorse in her eyes. He softened up, which I found weird since Bucky was always either messing around with Sam or just quiet behind Steve.

Bucky smiled at her. "Well, with my Enhancement unlike Stephen, I've just got some weird science stuff in me that makes me stronger and stuff, but it's mostly about my arm, see," he slipped of his zip-hoodie, showing his metal arm, which I had personally never seen properly, since Bucky never wore short-sleeves.

Nebula opened her mouth but we could see she was a bit happier. I swear I even saw Gamora quietly glad Bucky was doing this. "Well, I don't have any science stuff in me, but I do have a metal arm too," she held out her hand for us to see. She rolled up her sleeve and we could see the metallic arm she had too.

"That's cool. I guess we do have a lot in common," Sam chuckled, playfully punching Bucky in his metal arm and regretting it as he held his fist in pain.

"Well, I'm just Skilled, as you would say. No Enhancement," Gamora almost muttered.

"But she's badass. You should've seen her beat up the bullies last week," Peter began but was again cut off but Rocket, who had leaned over the table and lifted his hand as if to whisper a secret to us with Gamora hearing.

"She's all cool but before she was meanie-OW" Rocket rubbed his shoulder where Gamora punched him.

"What does he mean?" Sam asked but he was shot down but a Gamora Glare.

"Well I guess, we should you guys around," I stood up, realising there were more exchange students with the others and if they just as weird as these kids then we were going to have a crazy-ass day.

**Bruce's POV:**

To be fair, I didn't know really know what sort of people NMSI would bring. I figured there was going to be a less likely chance of an Enhanced to come from this school, being a Science Institue, and I think I was half right.

There were two girls from NMSI, one was blonde-ish/brunette who wore a simple graphic tee (with a cheesy/nerdy saying on it), a jacket and jeans. The other, who was the half who I wasn't entirely sure was on the high end of the IQ scale. She had darker brown hair, glasses, a beanie and a jacket too. Unlike her friend, she wore a dress that was basically hidden by her scarf, tights and boots for rainy weather. I guess these girls were slightly more reasonable than that girl that went with Stephen's lot who had just a singlet on in this cold.

"So, I'm Bruce Banner, not a Specialised-"

"So are you a to-be agent? Why are you showing us around then?" the annoying brunette asked, balancing on the concrete gaps as if she were on a tightrope.

"Because he is our friend," Thor answered, as the four of us strolled through the gardens. "I am Thor, son of Odin,"

"Well I'm Darcy Lewis, Daughter of Taylor Swift," she danced around.

"Really?" Thor exclaimed, and I just stared at the ground.

"No, I'm joking big guy," Darcy laughed. She looked at her friend. "Come on Jane, talk,"

'Jane' looked up. "Sorry, I was just thinking about your gym. It's really cool. I'm Jane Foster,"

"You like our gym? We have four!" Thor grinned.

"Really?" Darcy seemed intrigued.

I smiled. "Yeah, the one we were in was the Combats Gym. We have a Specialized Gym, an Enhanced Gym and the normal sports gym. They're built specially for their purpose," I explained.

"They're really scientifically advanced," Jane commented.

"You are from the Science Institute, how does your school operate?" Thor asked.

Jane put her hands in her pockets. "Well it's a Year 9+ school, and we just pick subjects that 'specialize' in our desired courses," she grinned when she used the word 'specialized'. "I'm, well, in university terms, 'majoring' in astrophysics,"

"Astrophysics? That's cool," I said, establishing Jane was the smarter one of the pair. "We have the 'majoring' thing here too, in the to-be agent courses. I'm specifying in the nuclear physics and biochem mostly," I grinned. "More a scientist to-be agent, not a normal field agent,"

"Well I'm doing the political scientist course," Darcy joined the conversation. Jane just made an amused face. "What about you...Thor?" she leaned eagerly towards my friend.

"I am an Enhanced," Thor grinned, holding up his hand which had small electrical sparks dancing around his fingers.

I frowned and lowered his hand. "They're not technically supposed to do that,"

"We're not supposed to use our powers to our advantage, we can show off," Thor huffed.

I sighed. "Alright, whatever,"

"This place is so cool, do you guys serve super-soldier ice-cream at the cafeteria?" Darcy asked as we approached the gardens.

"Ha, no. Our cafeteria is pretty average," I answered, eying Thor talking to Jane.

"What sort of friends do you have?" Darcy asked.

"Um, mostly Enhanced but some Specialized. I'm the only to-be," I answered.

"Cool! Maybe I get to see some super-powers!" she exclaimed. "Do you think one of them could shoot me and then maybe I get super-powers too?"

I laughed. "Well, I doubt it," I watched her jump into some puddles. "I think you'll like some of my friends. They're pretty chaotic,"

"What do you mean? That I'm chaotic?" Darcy frowned amused.

I shrugged, pretending as if I didn't know. "How should I know? You're the one studying political science,"

I almost bumped into Thor, who had suddenly stopped with Jane. Darcy and I walked in front of them to see why they'd stopped. Natasha, Val, and Everett (who I was told about from camp and I'm pretty sure is more commonly called Ross) were climbing a tree and had fallen off and were now laughing.

"Hey, guys, what's up?" I ignored Thor's phone taking pictures.

"Nothing, we were having a competition on who could climb the tree fastest," Natasha shrugged, standing up.

"Where's Than?" Thor asked, looking around.

"He ditched us immediately so it's just us," Val answered, looking up at Thor who'd she met once last term and during camp.

"Who is Than?" Darcy asked, tilting her head.

"Oh, this is Darcy, who is studying political science and Jane, who is studying astrophysics. They're from NMSI," I introduced.

"Than is a dickhead who bullies people. He'd from Westwood," Natasha answered.

"Most people save a few are dickheads but thank gods that only Than is an exchange student," I added. "We like Ross and Val," I pointed to the other two Westwoods.

"Nice to meet you, are you Enhanced?"Darcy asked, intrigued.

"No, our school is purely non-enhanced," Ross answered, much to her disappointment. "How're you liking the school so far? I think it's pretty neat,"

Jane smiled. "I love the technology, it's really advanced. Who designs it?"

"That, m' lady, is the courtesy of Stark Industries," Thor looked proud as if he designed it.

"Stark? Does Tony Stark attend here?" Jane looked surprised.

"Yeah, Stark Industries are one of the founders of SHIELD, and Tony does attend here, he's one of our friends," I said, a little surprised at her excitement.

"I thought he was really smart! Why is he still in high-school?" she proceeded to ask.

"Um," I didn't really know the answer to that. "I don't know, I guess he just wants a normal life," I tried to answer. "You can ask him for yourself, we'll be hanging out at recess probably,"

Jane looked pretty excited about this. Thor had guided her through the gardens as I supervised Darcy and Natasha, who I reckon, is the worst duo to have, perhaps even worse than Loki and Natasha.

**...SceneChange...**

Tony sighed. He had led the two kids out of the gym and into the classroom hallways. The two boys from Oscorp were a year younger than then, but they seemed really bright. Too bad Tony wasn't in the best mood, being woken really early that morning and had to avoid Howard.

"Ned, check this out," the brunet had run-up to the awards glass case, pointing to the awards. "Look, there's the 50 State Intelligence Award...and the World Cup for the Martial Arts Competition...ooh! and the L.O.S Award! Wow,"

'Ned' joined his ecstatic friend. "Most of these are won by Tony Stark,"

The pair looked back at Tony, who was just standing behind them and had zoned out. He was faced with two eager faces looking at him. "Yes?"

"Did you really win all these?" Ned's friend asked.

"Yes," Tony's confused frowned turned into a small smile.

"That's so cool! Look, one of these are University levelled,"

"What are your names?" Tony asked, amused by their excitement.

"I'm Peter Parker and this is Ned Leeds," Peter answered, looking pretty awed that Tony Stark had asked for his name.

"Nice names. I am, as you know, Tony Stark,"

"We know! It's so cool!" Ned exclaimed.

"You guys go to Oscorp, what type of school is that?"Tony asked.

"It's a normal tech school I guess. No Enhanced," Ned shrugged, before eying Peter. "That we know of. I mean, there could be many that we don't of- who are hiding-g or...um- are secret superheroes...or s-something-" he got a playful punch from Peter who was glanced about awkwardly.

"Yeah, well, nothing as cool as this," Peter smiled, trying his best at ignoring his friend's oddness.

Tony frowned in confusion but smiled in return. "Sure. Hey, let me show you the science rooms, there's a bunch of dangerous and government secure chemicals there PLUS this new training machine,"

The three of them walked to the classroom in chatter, talking about robots. Tony didn't quite mind the young students he was in charge of.

**well...long chapter? :)**

**one thing before i leave until the next update...i'm having trouble decided which ship between thor/carol/val/jane i should do. i'll show you what i mean.**

**(if the photo doesn't work then here's basically what it says: bruce-thor(-jane)-carol-val-thor if that makes any snese whatsoever)**

**like, ughhgh, which ship?! i know i want a love triangle, since we haven't yet properly gotten one but idk who to do it with! if you guys have a preference, please say so ! **

**thanks/**DJ


	12. ELEVEN: Rethinking

**"** romance is for losers **"**

**rethinking**

_again_

Loki shut his locker door and glanced around the busy hallways. He was thinking about the assignment Fury gave them. Who would've been so stupid as to let bad people enter the school to steal a power source? They certainly wouldn't have used it for good purposes.

He walked down the corridor, looking around, scanning people's faces. Very thorough scans and research have shown that the key-card used had the final digits of 90034, which signified they were a Year Nine student. Someone in their year level. But who?

Loki tried to remember everyone he knew. It definitely couldn't be one of his friends, he shook his head. The current best options would be to suspect someone from Hydra. It may be a bit biased but everyone else in the year level wasn't Specialised and Loki didn't really know them.

Which could be the real suspect's goal, being invisible and less of a target as possible, but Loki felt it would be easier to cross off Hydra than to interview the other 300 students who weren't Specialised in Year Nine.

He approached the cafeteria. Hydra normally hung out there. You were very lucky if you could get a table in the cafeteria. Tables were automatically reserved for Hydra, these 'cool' chicks from to-be-agents, and some buff guys from to-be-agents too. Everyone else ended up leaning against walls, on stairs or somewhere outside in the gardens. Loki and his friends figured it'd be so much easier if they just gave up their table in the cafeteria (in year seven) and went outside. They were right since they could perform things out of the school rules without being caught as easily.

Loki entered the stink hole. He could see Hydra sitting obnoxiously on their tables. Loki lined up to get food so he could see them clearly without seeming suspicious. He eyes them throwing food at other teasingly and laughing as if they were the worlds best comedies.

Loki bit his tongue in annoyance at just looking at them. He brainstormed. He'd have to find something that would show they had lent their key-card to the shooters. He and the others who had been chosen for this task had no idea how to do this.

He passed a $2 coin over the counter picked up a muffin before leaving the cafeteria. Hydra was acting as usual. He made his way over to the garden circle his friends hung out at. He'd be able to meet the exchange students properly.

His girlfriend, Wanda, saw him approaching and stood up in excitement. "Loki! Come meet Jane and Darcy," she pointed to the two girls Bruce and Thor had shown around. They stood up at Loki's appearance.

"Hello! You must be Loki, I'm Darcy Lewis, the cooler one of us," Darcy smirked, holding out her hand for a handshake.

Loki gave a smiled and shook Darcy's hand. "It's nice to meet you,"

"I'm Jane. Ignore Darcy, she's a bit weird," Jane introduced.

Loki grinned. "Don't worry, we all are,"

"Are you an Enhanced?" Darcy questioned, eying Loki up and down.

"Um, yeah," Loki answered.

"One of the best," Wanda leaned against Loki. Everyone turned their head as Stephen led Sam, Bucky and the new exchange students out of the school building and into the peaceful gardens towards them.

"Sup guys," Steve grinned, smiling at Bucky and Sam. His eyes fell onto the new exchange students. He waved at them too. "I'm Steve Rogers,"

"Nice to meet you," Carol matched his smile. Her long hair had been 'poofed' up due to their quick game of tag before. "I'm Carol Danvers, Captain of Xander's Football team,"

Steve leaned against the picnic table. "Wow, really? So am I! But for SHIELD, of course,"

"We've had seven wins this season," Peter said proudly. "I'm Peter Quill by the way," **(btw i just realised we're gonna have a little bit of a problem with the two 'peters' so peter parker will stay 'peter' and peter quill will be called 'peter q.' to distinguish them if they're in the same scene)**

"Seven wins is good," Thor said, entering the conversation. "I personally kicked 19 of our goals towards our 11 wins,"

"Alright stop competing- introduce us!" Clint jumped up, grinning. "I'm Clint Barton, the best and only,"

Steve made a face. "Sure, believe that Clint,"

"Well," Stephen waved to his group. "That was Carol," she waved again excitedly to the group. "And this is Gamora and Nebula, they're sisters,"

"Adopted," both of them interrupted simultaneously. Loki rolled his eyes when Thor made finger guns at him.

"And then Peter Quill and Rocket," Stephen continued, pointing to the respective people.

"Now, where's this genius Tony Stark I've heard all about," Rocket blew a bubble with his gum, crossing his arms.

"Yeah, we've been waiting," Darcy rolled her eyes.

"I don't know where he is, we said we'd meet up here at recess," Bruce frowned taking out his phone to text him.

"He's showing around those nerdy kids," Gamora shrugged. "The ones younger than us,"

"They might have gotten distracted in the tech lab or something," Stephen suggested.

"I've texted him, he should be here soon," Bruce put away his phone.

"Good, because you need to talk to him," Natasha, who just arrived, chucked an empty can at Stephen, who caught it. "Hey guys, Val and Everett are here," Stephen blinked towards Everett blankly. "Than ran off to his rat friends,"

"What does that mean?" Carol piped up, "That you should talk to him?"

Stephen felt himself go red for some reason. "Um- I don't know,"

"Bullsh*t, come just go on a real date already," Loki groaned, "One that doesn't require Wanda and me to orchestrate,"

"Date?" Carol tilted her head. There was some awkward silence.

"Yeah...uh-date," Stephen stuttered, fiddling with his sleeves.

"I did think there was something rather awkward between the two of you this morning," Carol shrugged.

"Romance is for losers," Rocket rolled his eyes.

"Romance is not for losers," Peter (Q.) exclaimed, peering at Gamora at the corner of his eye.

"Emotions are for losers," Gamora deadpanned, not even glancing at Peter (Q.).

"Then I guess you all losers," the annoying deep voice of Than interrupted the group. "I didn't know the b*tch sisters were here today,"

"We saw each other this morning, idiot," Nebula spat.

"Piss off," Bucky sighed, frowned at Nebula and Gamora's familiarity with the bully.

"Haha, you wish metal arm. Hey, Nebula, you've found yourself a new buddy! You can both be weak together," Than laughed arrogantly.

"Listen here," Gamora growled, raising her finger at him. "Stop pestering us or I will beat your arse,"

"Try sweetheart," Than winked.

"Disgusting!" Nebula shouted, chucking a fork (that appeared miraculously) at him. He ducked, laughed, and left.

"What a jerk," Jane rubbed her neck.

"He sure should get in trouble," Darcy made a face.

"Trust me, we've tried," Steve sighed.

"How do you guys know them?" Bucky asked curiously.

Gamora averted her eyes. "He's our cousin. He sucks big time," the sisters expected complaints and insult but instead got;

"Family reunions must be a nightmare," Thor chuckled.

"Our family reunions suck, imagine it for them," Loki added, amused by memories of previous family events.

Gamora and Nebula showed signs of relief. "We were worried you'd hate us," Gamora explained.

"Everyone has sucky family, you just gotta live with it and be better than them," Loki smiled comfortingly.

And the group sat around the circle, chatting and messing around until Tony's group arrived.

**...SceneChange...**

Tony led the two new kids through the cafeteria. They had to rush out of the science block since they had lost track of time. Tony lingered at the back of the line as Peter and Ned went up.

Tony had been rather absent this year at school and he had never been part of the whole 'school cafeteria hierarchy' thing. He glanced around the busy and loud room. His eyes skimmed past Hydra's table and found himself inspecting the other tables, the other students he barely ever talked to.

His thinking was interrupted by; "Hi there!" a high-pitched voice belonging to a blonde with an outrageous pink scarf.

Tony turned around in surprise. "Oh, hi," he smiled, looking at the girl. His memory briefly recognised her in some of his science classes.

She smiled back, adjusting her gem decorated blue headband. "My name's Jessica and I don't know if you'd recognise me but I'm in your Chemistry and Biology classes,"

Tony raised his eyebrows in an effort to show interest. "Yes, um, you do look familiar. I'm Tony Stark," he stupidly added, even though she most likely knew who he was.

"I know," she grinned flirtatiously. She tilted her head. "I was just wondering if the rumours were true?" she made an innocent face.

Tony frowned. "Which rumour?" His heart immediately skipped to Stephen.

She just shrugged. "Oh you know, since I didn't, and most of the school didn't go to your camp, we can't confirm, did you really kiss Stephen?"

Tony seemingly froze. He slowly opened his mouth. "-He kissed me,"

"Are you dating him?" Jessica seemed to have practised these questions beforehand because she asked them without hesitation.

"No," he answered truthfully.

"So if you're free, maybe we can both go check out that nice new restaurant, um, Delmar's Deli & Grill?" she asked, looking straight into his eyes.

Tony faltered. "Like a date?"

"Yeah,"

Tony was used to girls asking him out, text messages, and he was used to ignoring them. But this time it was different. Not because it was a different girl, not because he was tired or bored. Because he needed to get his mind off Stephen.

"Sure thing, I'll text you the detail," Tony whipped out his phone and began typing stuff.

"Oh! I'll give you my phone number," she began to say.

"No, it's fine, you're Space_glitter34 on Snapchat right?" Tony showed her his screen which displayed a shaky video of her dancing on her story.

"Haha yeah," Jessica laughed. "Cool then, we'll talk later,"

Just as she was walking off, Peter and Ned came up to him. "Who was that?" Ned asked.

Tony began to lead them out. "No one really,"

**...SceneChange...**

The trio walked into the circle of plants and seats that the group hang around on.

"There you are Tony," Bruce exclaimed, relieved.

Tony waved at his friends. "Yeah, we got distracted. This is Peter and Ned," he introduced.

"Peter? I'm Peter too!" Peter (Q.) exclaimed.

"Obviously this Peter is cooler," Gamora smiled, walking over to Peter and starting a conversation, much to Peter (Q.)'s annoyance.

"Hey, are you really Tony Stark?" Darcy questioned, making Jane blush.

"Yes, in the flesh," he smiled.

"My friend Jane is a big fan!" she wrapped her arm around Jane.

"I'm not a fan, I'm just interested in the designs and stuff you create," Jane corrected Darcy.

Tony grinned. "Many people are. You're from NMSI, right?"

"Yup," Darcy answered instead.

"Jane's doing astrophysics and Darcy's doing political science," Bruce introduced, walking up next to Tony.

"Neat," Tony smiled.

"So are you going to talk to the wizard dude?" Darcy asked. "I forget his name, Strange or something rather."

"Stephen?" Tony frowned.

"Yeah, everyone was trying to make him talk to you," Jane filled him in.

"It was nothing really," Bruce tried to assure his friend.

"It really wasn't. Wizard guy kept blushing and Natasha kept telling these possible scenarios," Darcy explained.

Tony managed to keep a straight face. "Well, I'm sure he did," his eyes snatched a glance at Stephen, who was talking to Ross. He forgot Ross was here. He shrugged. "Stephen's just a friend," he turned around and tried to walk to where Steve was talking to Carol but Bruce redirected him to a corner.

"Why aren't you going to talk to him?" Bruce whispered.

Tony sighed. "Because I don't want to,"

"Because you're afraid?"

Tony turned his head. "No,"

"Do you still like him?"

"No," Tony forced out of his mouth.

Bruce stood up straight. "Then tell him. We're going in circles,"

Tony shut his eyes. "I will. In my own time,"

"Alright," Bruce walked off, and Tony turned around to face all of his friends chatting to each other. He automatically found himself looking at Stephen. Stephen talking to Ross. He sighed. Stephen seemed happy. Was it worth it? Tony crossed his arms. Maybe it was better to just leave it.

**it's a little earlier than i said i would post it (happy early birthday ScarletWitch10 !) and it is a little shorter than normal,, i'm sorry! once the 'camp' series ended i realised i hadn't planned this far so currently i don't really have a plot which is why my writing for this chapter might seem a little empty. **

**i am going to write out a plan after this chapter so i'll be all ready for the next one! if you have any good ideas or request, i will gladly accept them, this story is as much yours as it is mine! but thank you for all the support!**

**thanks/**DJ


	13. TWELVE: Unsuccessful Revenge

** "** and that's for saving me, **"**

**unsuccessfully revenge**

_jealousy?_

"I just love this place," Jessica giggled, wrapping her around Tony's. The pair had headed towards Delmar's Deli & Grill. It was a home owned restaurant with basic barbecue type food.

"It seems nice," Tony shrugged as they entered.

And if things couldn't get any worse, the only too familiar voice spoke to them. "Tony?"

_'Fvck, Stephen?'_ Tony's mind almost short-circuited. "Um, hi?"

"Oh! It's Stephen!" Jessica smiled. "What are you doing here?" she asked.

Stephen shrugged and gestured to his name badge. "I work here. Let me show you to a table," he led the two to empty seats. He glanced at Tony who had gotten silent.

"This is such a surprise! Did you know he worked here, Tony?" Jessica asked.

"No," he muttered.

"What do you two want to order?" Stephen asked, passing them a menu.

"We'll think about it," Jessica smiled, picking up the menu. Stephen gave one last glance at Tony before leaving. Once he disappeared behind the counter, Jessica began to talk again. "I say, I think I'll try the fish hamburger. What about you?"

Tony hadn't even picked up the menu. "Um, I'll have the fish and chips," he shrugged.

"Okay, I'll call Stephen back over," she grinned.

Tony sighed and stared out the window beside them. Just his luck Stephen was going to be there. He heard Jessica call him over and tell him their orders. He only turned his head to face Jessica when he knew Stephen had left.

"So," Jessica began. "Do you have any siblings?"

Tony frowned but answered. "Um, no,"

She continued to talk. "Well I do, a sister. She actually goes to our school too!"

"That's nice," Tony forced a smile. This wasn't working. He was supposed to have his mind off Stephen but Stephen was there and that wasn't really helping.

Jessica continued to talk while he tried to listen. "Her name's Liza and she's a year older than me but we get along so well. Did you know she has a boyfriend?"

"Nope," Tony said, poking the napkin.

Jessica stared at him. "Do you remember her?"

Tony looked up at her. "I don't remember your sister whom I've never met,"

He swore she was glaring at him. "Do you not remember taking her out and then making out with Violet Weather half an hour later?" she basically growled.

Tony blinked as he racked his memory for a 'Liza' and 'Violet'. "Um, about what time was this?" he asked, regretting it about three seconds later.

"You don't even remember when you humiliated my sister!?" Jessica exclaimed. "Last year during your stupid Christmas Party!"

Tony suddenly remembered. "Yeah, but I took her to my party after the date-"

"That's not an excuse!" her face had gotten red. "You are nothing but a playboy who has every girl on his tail and isn't afraid to go through them like used-like used CUPS," Jessica had caught the attention of the other customers.

Tony swallowed. "I know it's not. I was different back then-"

"And you're different now? Have you opened up your options to GUYS now two? Now you can be twice the sl*t as you before," she spat.

Tony was taken aback but stayed calm. "I apologise, I can talk to Liza tomorrow if you want-"

Jessica banged her fist on the table as she stood up. "I can't believe I was ever jealous of my sister when you asked her out," she grabbed a butter knife from the table and waved it at him.

He stood up and held up his hands. "Look, this isn't a good idea. Calm down a bit-"

"Did you calm down when you were kissing Violet Weather?!" Liza emphasized.

Tony sighed. "I'm sorry three-thousand times,"

"That's not enough!" she exclaimed. Both of them glanced to the side as Stephen and another employee had come out to settle the commotion. "She was the topic of the school for a whole month!"

"Okay, please lower the knife," Stephen stepped forward, attempting to calm her down.

She shoved the knife onto the table, causing it to make a loud noise when it fell onto the floor. "You too, Strange," she hissed, opening her messenger bag.

"What do you want me to do? Go to school in my pyjamas or something?" Tony asked, getting rather tired.

"No, I want you to suffer," she snapped.

"This date is obviously not going as intended so how about I just leave?" Tony shrugged, trying to walk out of the seat.

"Stop it," she caused a bunch of gasps as she took out a real sharp knife.

Tony froze and edged back into his seat. "Alright, I guess so. What are you going to do? Stab me?"

She shook her head but before she could answer Stephen began to talk. "Jessica is it? This isn't worth it to lose your place at SHIELD, he isn't worth it to get into serious trouble."

"Jeez, thanks," Tony rolled his eyes.

Jessica faltered and turned to Stephen. "Like you know what I feel like,"

Stephen lowered his hands. "I don't. But put down the knife and we can talk about this,"

"No! He needs to suffer-"

"Does your sister even know about this?" Tony asked.

Jessica shook her head again. "No. She did despise you for a while,"

"Then why are you doing this? For revenge?" Tony frowned.

"No! You ruined everything when you ditched my sister! You have no idea what happens to all the people you affect with your dating," she snarled, waving the knife dangerously close to his face.

"Look, I'm sure your revenge doesn't need to involve a knife or blood," Tony made a pleading face. "I'm quite tired right now so maybe we can deal with this tomorrow,"

"No! Shut up,"

Stephen sighed. "Put down the knife or else we'll have to restrain you,"

"And what? All you Specialized think you're so special-" but she was cut off when Stephen stepped forward and grabbed the knife's handle, twisting it out of her hand in one maneuver. She shut up and turned very red. "You all are very arrogant,"

"You forgot smart," Stephen called after her as she stormed out of the restaurant/

"Everyone, go back to your meals," Stephen's co-worker assured the other customers.

Stephen slipped into Jessica's spot. "You can't seem to stay out of trouble, huh?"

Tony nodded slowly. "Yeah, I guess,"

Stephen glanced down at the table. "You don't mind me asking, were you guys on a date?"

Tony smirked. "Jealous?"

Stephen looked up at him, "I could say so," he answered without hesitation. "I mean, we aren't dating or anything, but her? Have you not heard her comments about the Specialized in class? She thinks we are all bigoted. You could've at least chosen someone nicer,"

Tony frowned, slightly amused. "I only accept because I needed a distraction," he said, finding himself being honest.

Stephen raised his eyebrow. "A distraction? What, from me?"

"Yeah,"

"Oh," Stephen blinked and found himself smiling. "Why?"

Tony leaned back on his seat. "I don't know. Everything is weird, you know?"

Stephen made a face at him. "Weird how?"

"I don't know," Tony scrunched up his nose. "It just is,"

"Very helpful. Well, if you don't need me to save you from crazy sisters of your ex's anymore, I'll be off to do my job," Stephen stood up.

Tony quickly got up to and faced Stephen. "Um, yeah. You probably should," he swallowed and took out a wad of cash before placing it onto the table beside them. "That's for our attractive waiter," then Tony tiptoed and gave him a quick kiss on his lips. "And that's for saving me,"

Stephen basically gaped as Tony left the restaurant and stared at the $50 note he had placed on the table.

"Now that your boyfriend's gone help me with this," Stephen's co-worker shoved a tray onto Stephen's hands and walked off to get some cups.

**...SCENECHANGE...**

Clint bit the tip of his ice-cream off. "I swear Westwood is cheating,"

"Of course they are," Natasha scowled, licking her ice-cream. She was wearing her cheerleading outfit. The two were sitting on the bleachers of the football field. It was just after the football practice and Westwood had come unofficially. The session ended with a very intense game despite the coaches strict order to not play with Westwood.

Of course, their competitive side took over and a lot of blood ended up on that field. Steve, Thor, Carol and Val were at the bottom of the bleachers talking.

"I'm just so tired of them," Clint groaned, glad that Westwood had already left.

"Than just generally sucks too," Natasha sighed. "He's here for the Exchange and he was here before too because of that collaboration SHIELD did with them, remember?"

"I know," Clint shoved the rest of his ice-cream into his mouth before frowning.

Natasha shrugged and faced him. "Anyways, thanks for coming to watch our practise," she nudged her friend when he didn't answer. "Hey, Clint? What's up?"

He seemed fazed. "Nothing...I just realised something,"

"What?" Natasha frowned.

Clint shook his head. "I might just be annoyed at Westwood but, they were here before, right?"

"Yeah, we just said that," Natasha said, confused.

Clint turned to her. "Well, they all have access cards now, as do the other exchange students. But they had access cards before too since they were here! They could've easily have given their cards to the shooters,"

Natasha stared at him. "You're on to something. But that's still another whole entire year level,"

"Yeah, but what about Than?"

"That is a long shot, Clint. Just because he's a bully doesn't mean he would allow people to break into SHIELD. We just have options, they could still easily be from SHIELD," Natasha said, being real for a moment.

"I know," Clint sighed. "What should our plan be? I mean, we have no one to start spying on, may as well start with Than, than we can cross him out, right?"

Natasha continued to eat her ice-cream. "I guess. I'll organize a meeting with the team tonight to meet tomorrow,"

They fell silent as the others came up and sat down around them.

"That game was really exciting!" Carol exclaimed. "There was a lot more blood than out games,"

"That Jason guy had it coming," Thor hummed, taking a sip from his water bottle.

Val had put herself in between Nat and Carol. "A hundred per cent,"

"You are good at football," Carol complimented Steve. "As well with you Thor. How long have you guys been playing?"

"Since I came to SHIELD," Steve said.

"Since I was a child," Thor said proudly.

"Wow, that's cool. I began a few years ago too," Carol smiled.

Val leaned on her arm. "So Carol," she huffed. "Are you guys popular at Xander?"

Carol looked surprised by the question. "I guess? I hang out a bit with Peter (Q.) and Rocket. Peter has this helpless crush on Gamora- whoops, I wasn't supposed to say that,"

"It's bluntly obvious," Natasha waved off.

"Oh, I guess so, huh?" Carol smiled again. "Well Peter is so hopeless, he hangs out with her and Gamora is very popular. Her sister, not so much. But they stick together, so,"

"That's interesting," Steve nodded.

"You guys seemed rather popular too," Carol mentioned.

"We are," Clint grinned. "With Tony Stark and Steve Rogers, the two most popular guys at school on our group,"

"And with Clint Barton as the biggest trouble maker," Steve added.

"And don't forget, Natasha, the most bad-ass in the school," Steve reminded.

"You've got quite a group," Carol said, impressed.

"I know right," Val grinned. "You guys are so much better than Westwood's popular, which consist of gross bullies,"

"Our bullies aren't that great either," Thor scowled.

"Yeah, they used to be so much worse before the Avengers rose up to fight for justice," Clint said.

"Avengers?" Carol frowned.

"Yeah, it used to be the name of our group and school club. We used to stop the schemes of Hydra, which are the bullies name," Steve explained.

"Why don't you guys do that anymore?"

"We do," Natasha confirmed. "Except not officially since we got shut down by Fury because of this big quarrel,"

"Oh, well we have something like that too!" Carol exclaimed. "Except we're called the Guardians and we unofficially stop the bullies at our school. Since it's unofficial we get in trouble a lot for punching them," she shrugged.

"That's cool, we have a lot in common then," Clint laughed. "Maybe we can join up one day and it'd be like a cool tv show crossover of something. Hydra won't have a chance,"

**...SceneChange...**

**New Group Chat - created 6:45 pm**

Nat69 named the group chat Super Secret Spies

Nat69: -hey guys, this group chat is for that mission Fury gave us-

Nat69: -Clint and I have an idea for a plan so let's meet up in Room 45 tomorrow at recess-

: -okay-

.Clint: -sure thing-

: -I might be a little bit late because of maths you know how it is-

Nat69: -cool-

Loki: -I'll be there :)-

**...**

**uhh,,**

**this was updated a little **  
**earlier than usual**  
**and it is a little shorter than usual**  
**so i apologise for that**

**BUT **  
**i have a big announcement !**

**i am planning to do a **  
**comic/graphic novel**  
**on this series**

**i have begun on the first page**

**of it so far (of the first book)**  
**and it will take a long time**  
**as i'm planning to do **  
**everything almost line to line**  
**accurate.**

**i don't know when it will come out**  
**properly, but i will upload each chapter of**  
**it onto deviantart and perhaps on wattpad  
(where this story is originally posted)  
(we'll have to see how nice wattpad is with **  
**the format and quality)**

**otherwise, i will update you all**  
**on the progress and new updates!**

**i am super excited for this and**

**i hope you all are too!**

**THANK YOU ALL**  
**NONE OF THIS WOULD HAPPEN**  
**WITHOUT YOU GUYS!**

**thanks[3000]/**DJ

[ deviantart ; tsforever3000 ]


	14. COMIC INFORMATION

Comic Adaptation Information

If you're here, then you know what this is. If not,, then let me explain.

I have written a high-school AU fanfiction on Marvel's Avengers [+ a sequel] and now I am making a comic adaptation of it. This could not have been done without my fans from the fics and I praise all of you. *insert smiley face here*.

ALL pages will be posted on Deviantart and progress/sketches will be posted on my art account on Instagram. Since Wattpad doesn't do too well with quality and such, I will only post the first page of each chapter onto this story to update you all on the progress of it. AND since doesn't do a good job with images and such, nothing will be posted here. :( but please go to either my wattpad or Instagram to be updated or just go to my Deviantart to read the pages.

The comic will be almost adapted line to line onto the pages so it will take a while but I will post when I've finished a chapter (as you would on Wattpad).

Uhh, all links are below, so please go to each so you can be updated on this if you're interested! Also add this to your library so you can be reminded each time a chapter is uploaded!

FIND ALL PAGES HERE: tsforever3000/gallery/71678683/shield-academy-comic OR tsforever3000/gallery/71678683/shield-academy-comic

READ ORIGINAL FIC HERE (on same account): story/185670917-together-mcu-high-school-au OR story/185670917-together-mcu-high-school-au

FIND MY INSTAGRAM HERE: ts_forever3000/?hl=en OR ts_forever3000/?hl=en

(please tell if the links don't work, i haven't had a good record with this website lol)

THANK YOU, EVERYONE, FOR READING!

/DJ

[comment, it really helps!]

[vote, so I can get discovered!]

[and most importantly, read! thank you!]


	15. THIRTEEN: Caught Almost Redhanded

**"** i'm not a hopeless romantic like you are **"**

**caught almost redhanded**

_another_?

Tony had gotten to school a little later than usual and was walking through the halls of the school. At this time, most students had arrived and were roaming about the lockers. He had just closed his locker door after chucking his bag inside when he found Stephen waiting behind his door.

"Stephen? Hi?" he said, surprised at his appearance.

"Hey, Tony," Stephen smiled. "Independence Day is this Friday,"

"And?" Tony frowned, as the pair slowly made their way down the hallway.

"It's also Steve's birthday," Stephen reminded.

"Oh yeah, that's right," Tony pursed his lips. "I almost forgot,"

"Do you know what he's doing?" Stephen asked.

"Nope," Tony sighed. He suddenly stopped walking and pulled Stephen behind a corner.

"What's wrong?" Stephen frowned, trying to see what Tony was trying to avoid.

"Jessica," he muttered. The two peered around the corner and spotted the blonde speaking to another, taller, girl at her locker. Jessica then waved bye and left, leaving the other girl to lock her locker. "Hold a second," Tony stepped out and approached at the girl. Stephen lingered behind the corner in confusion.

Tony knocked on the locker door to alert her. "Hey, Liza, isn't it?"

It took a moment for Liza, Jessica's sister, to recognise the billionaire child. "Tony Stark?" she had a much stronger Swedish accent than her sisters. "I didn't think I would see you again after what you did,"

"Hey! I apologized later," Tony defended himself indignantly. He shook his head. "Anyways, I was just here to, well, apologise again. Your sister did quite put up a show about it all,"

"My sister?" she questioned, tilting her head in confusion.

Tony blinked. "Uh, yeah? Did she not tell you about our date yesterday?"

"My sister had a date with you?" Liza exclaimed. "Did you go kiss another girl afterwards?"

Tony scowled. "No, I did not," he sighed. "She asked me out but it turned out it was some sort of revenge scheme because of what I did to you last year," he explained the rest of the afternoon awkwardly.

Liza seemed not too bothered about her sister's shenanigans. "Of course she did. She hinted that she was going to do something about you. She is very immature, despite her intelligence. I will speak to her, but thank you for telling me about this,"

Tony smiled. "Well, I hope we aren't on horrible terms any more Liza. You are very attractive and I do hope you do well in your class with Mr Novak, I heard he's a pain,"

Liza smirked. "Well I hope things go well with your also rather attractive boyfriend," she winked at him before twirling around to leave.

Tony stood there baffled for a moment before Stephen came behind him. "Was that Jessica's sister?"

"Um, yeah," Tony shook off the confusion. "I talked to her about Jessica, everything's fine,"

"I see why you dated her, she's good looking," Stephen grinned.

Tony rolled his eyes. "Yeah, blonde hair and blue eyes, just my type," he said in a sarcastic voice.

Stephen looked forward as they walked. "What is your type then?"

"How about a smart and arrogant twerp who thinks he's better than me?" Tony looked up at Stephen.

Stephen just stuck his tongue out at Tony and firmly grabbed his hand. "I think your 'type' would prefer the term 'genius' instead,"

Tony glanced down at their entwined hands before saying; "I believe I'm the genius in this relationship, thank you very much,"

**...SceneChange...**

"Sorry, I'm late," Stephen panted, entering the door. Tony was behind, smiling.

"What were you late doing?" Natasha raised her eyebrows, her legs propped up against a chair.

Stephen low-key glared at her. "I was too busy convincing Mr Williams to not give Tony a 5 per cent bonus,"

"Which I deserved!" Tony pointed out, making a face at him.

"Did you now? Everyone can prank Fury,"

"But not everyone can -not- get detention for it!" Tony exclaimed back.

"It's got nothing to do with the maths assignment!" Stephen frowned, collapsing onto the desk table. "Plus, this idiot got distracted by the new locks on the janitor closet," he pointed his finger at Tony who just crossed his arms.

"Alright, now that we've gotten past the 'married couple problems', let's get to the real problem at hand," Clint said, pointing at a ridiculous drawing of Than on the whiteboard. "This is Than from Westwood as we all know,"

"Why has he got a drawing of a turd on his head?" Loki asked.

"Because he's a sh*thead. Anyway," Clint continued. "He and literally every other year 9 Westwood out there used to have a SHIELD access card, all during the time the shooting happened. Natasha and I have opened our minds to the fact that a Westwood could've given their card to the shooters,"

Stephen frowned. "Right, but why Than? We can't just blame him because we dislike him, that's unprofessional,"

Natasha stood up. "That's what I said. But then we figured, we have nowhere to begin. So why not just get it over and done with and cross Than off the list. Maybe on the way we get some clues to the real suspect,"

"I see," Loki thought for a bit. She then nodded. "So where do we start? I have a flame thrower somewhere in my locker,"

After a second of confused silence (because why could you have a flamethrower, grappling hooks are way more useful everyone knows that), Bruce stood up. "Why don't we search his locker first. Tony can try to hack his phone and any odd activity,"

Tony stood up. "OR I can just-" he whipped out his laptop from his bag and began to type. "-hack into the school's mainframe and access his card from there. Fury did say that they used some form of ghost system to block our school to ID the card but maybe if I..." he mumbled nonsense only a few like Bruce could understand.

He put down the laptop and spun it around to show the screen to the others. "Nothing. His card is Level 9, just like ours, with the same access availability,"

"Couldn't he just erase any history on the card?" Clint asked, peering into the screen.

Tony shook his head. "Not even I could do that, the security system's too complicated for that. Anyway for any information to even just be disrupted would be to mess with the card's chip itself,"

Natasha stared at the screen before saying, "When they were here the last term...didn't they just have the visitors pass plus access to the gyms?" she stood up. "They weren't proper students, they could only use the special facilities. The card given to the shooters would only really need to be one to get through the front floors,"

"And?" Clint frowned. "They had access, we know that,"

Natasha shook her head. "No, I mean, now they have more access, right? Now that they're 'proper' students," she turned to Tony. "Didn't all exchange students get new cards? That means whatever's on this card happened after the shooting. His old card could have easily had stuff on it,"

"Well, that makes things so much easier for us," Loki groaned. So what do we do?"

"Nothing," everyone turned to the door where Than stood with a malicious grin.

"What do you want?" Tony asked, shutting his laptop.

Than walked in slowly. "You won't find my old card because it got shot during that whole scandal," he then did an over-exaggerated wink at them. "Keep your meddling hands out of this, your Avengers thing is the most kindergarten thing I've ever heard of,"

As he was about to leave, Loki called after him. "Are you scared we'll find you guilty? I honestly doubt it, since whoever was going to betray us would have needed to have some form of courage. Skill would have been needed and the scheme wouldn't have been able to be pulled off with someone like you. I don't know why we're wasting our time investigating you,"

Than stared at him before frowning. "You, out of all the cowards, dare to go against me? Throw those insults like Stark throws money?" he inched closer. "That scheme, whatever you called it, took four months to plan. Then we had to somehow create an alliance with Fury and SHIELD to even get access to this stupidly fortified school. any idiot would realise there's a secret somewhere around here,"

Loki crossed her arms. "So you're telling me that you and- who? Your stick-worth of friends- managed to get fully armed men into our school?" she turned to Natasha. "I think our prime target should be Malekith, he at least has an Enhancement,"

Than stepped forward and tried to grab Loki in anger except she ducked out of the way. "That derp is nothing compared to my intelligence," he growled.

"So you're telling us that this is a confession?" Clint asked, turning Than's attention to him. Clint was holding a camera, the lens facing Than.

He turned some shade of red or purple before realizing and lunged himself at Clint. Clint easily flipped over him, edging at the door, glancing at the others. than was recovering himself.

"Go to Fury!" Stephen exclaimed at Clint, who sprinted out of the classroom.

Than turned to the others. "This is more than just a petty high school drama," he took out what looked like a baton but had not-earth-like glowing purple blades sticking out of it.

"It was more than a petty high school drama when your people stuck a couple bullets in me," Tony glared at the bully, stepping in front of him, blocking him from the doorway. His gauntlet formed and his powered hand faced Than.

Than scowled and did some moves with the weapon he had taken out. "Get out of my way,"

"No," Tony said. "You are not moving until the authorities get here,"

Stephen watched this unfold before him. His face almost flushed white when Tony whipped out his gauntlet. Than seemed furious. "I will not be punished for this, there is no proper proof, you could've easily edited that footage,"

"There are security cameras," Loki shrugged. Than stared at the team. He had, for once, been outsmarted, and was going to get into an awful lot of trouble.

**...SceneChange...**

Tony crossed his arms in annoyance. "We aren't,"

"But you guys act like it so much!" Clint edged on, sprawled out on Tony's couch. The group were all laid out in one of Tony's living rooms.

Tony opened a soda. "Yeah well, I have very high standards, I'd never date anyone's who's such a-"

Everyone turned their heads as Stephen entered the front door, puffed out and almost tripped. "Oh hi, guys! Sorry I'm late, the guy at the store took years to bag these up," he chucked a bag into the circle.

"OOh, doughnuts, thanks!" Clint snatched.

"What were you guys talking about?" Stephen frowned, sitting cross-legged on the ground.

"About Tony's dating standards," Natasha answered before Tony could say anything. She took a mouthful of doughnuts.

Stephen shrugged. "Can't be too high, looking back at all his ex's," he said mindlessly.

Bruce raised his eyebrow. "What does that make you?"

Stephen paused when he realised what'd he said. "Um," he glanced down, hiding the rather obvious blush that had formed.

"You set yourself for that one mate," Sam chucked him a soda. "Relax,"

"Hey, isn't your birthday soon?" Stephen asked Steve, changing the subject.

Steve looked up. "Uh, yeah it is actually,"

"What are you doing for it?" Loki questioned, who was leaning on Wanda.

"Nothing really," Steve muttered.

"Nonsense," Tony stood up. "I'm going to throw you the biggest party this world has ever seen," he pointed at Steve.

Steve looked blankly at his friend.

"My father's going to a stupid conference on Independence Day so the house is ours," he took out his phone. "I'll send out invites, it's going to be wonderful,"

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Natasha poked Tony's leg. "Having a big party?"

"It's fine. Now Steve. apart from Nat, the cheerleaders. Yes or no?" Tony asked, typing into his phone.

Steve looked surprised. It had not been the first time Tony had thrown him a birthday but he didn't expect it this time. "Um, I don't really mind? Whoever wants to come can come to be honest,"

"Great," Tony made a dramatic last tap on his phone and moments later everyone's phones beeped.

"I...thanks," Steve smiled.

"Okay, um I think the new kids are coming soon," Wanda said, looking at her phone. "Most of them are staying at this hotel place so they're all coming at once,"

"How soon?" Tony asked.

"I don't know, Peter (Q.) said about ten minutes,"

"Cool, I'll get more chips," Tony left to the kitchen.

A few seconds later, Stephen stood up. "Sorry, does anyone know where the bathroom is?"

"Down the hall to the right," Natasha pointed.

"Thanks," Stephen turned around the corner but paused for a bit before smirking. "Too short?" he faced the open kitchen room behind the living room.

Tony stood there, tip-toeing on a stool, trying to grab more chips. He hopped down with a pouty face. "Can you help?"

Stephen got onto the stool and took down a couple of packets of chips. "Here you go. Why do you store them up here?"

"I don't use this kitchen that much so a lot of things are in inconvenient places," Tony shrugged, getting some bowls from the cupboard.

Stephen put his hands in his pockets. "That's on the richest things I've ever heard,"

Tony glanced at him. "What? Don't normal people have four to five kitchens?" he said sarcastically. "Next you'll tell me that six living rooms and a helicopter landing pad in the back yard aren't normal,"

Stephen stepped a little closer before saying something completely off-topic. "So what are you're standards then?"

"Huh?"

"Before, you guys were talking," Stephen asked, awkwardly smiling.

Tony opened his mouth. "Oh. Right, that. Um," he the edges of the bowl he was holding. "Well honestly, I don't know. What you said is right, they really can't be high looking at my previous hook-ups," he rubbed his neck, also awkwardly.

"You must have some standard," Stephen insisted. "Do you ever imagine, like, your future spouse or something, and them just being perfect- why are they perfect?"

Tony stared at Stephen. "Well, I don't know. Maybe, they're nice,"

"No shit," Stephen rolled his eyes.

"Alright, don't laugh," Tony made a face. "I'm not a hopeless romantic like you are. I don't spend my time thinking about the perfect guy,"

"Guy?" Stephen looked down at him.

Tony realised what he'd said. "Oh, um, I meant- I don't know what I meant-" he spluttered.

"I thought you came out when you kissed me but sorry for my assumptions," Stephen laughed awkwardly, glancing at the ground.

There was some silence before Tony shifted the weight on his feet clumsily. "I-well," he mumbled before stepping forward and tried to kiss Stephen. Now [I] say try, because this short child couldn't reach Stephen's unsuspecting lips. This ended with Tony losing balance and having to grab the benchtop of the counter to not fall onto Stephen.

Stephen just smirked more, much to Tony's dislike. Tony was blushing furiously. "Curse you and your height,"

"Do you want me to help?" Stephen placed his hand on Tony's arm to pull him back up onto his feet. He leaned down a bit before slowing.

Tony stared at his counterpart, finding it difficult to see past the heat that had accumulated on his cheeks. "Thanks," he whispered before tiptoeing again to place his lips onto Stephen's.

The chaotic and messy kiss was conveniently and quickly interrupted by a knock on the front door.

**what even is this shit show tbh guys**

**AND BY THE WAY**

**go follow SHIELD academy to get updated on the comic/graphic novel if y'all interested! i posted it a while ago and it's on this same account,,**

**thanks/**DJ


	16. FOURTEEN: Secret Rescue

** " **you guys didn't die! come on, **"**

**secret rescue**

_rain_

When Tony opened the door for the new arrivals, it was just chaos from there. They played Twister, laser tag (?somehow?) and then charades where Clint pretended to kiss Stephen when he got 'Tony Stark'.

When the group left the Stark Residence after the long after school 'homework session', only Tony (obviously) and Stephen remained. He had insisted on staying to help clean up the mess that had resulted from the 'homework session'. No one else refused his offer and they all left the two together.

Later that night, Natasha told Tony she was pretty sure 'stuff' happened while they were cleaning but Tony promised that the closest 'intimate' thing that happened was when they both reached for the same trash bag by accident. Natasha just shrugged it off and told Clint.

Tony was laying in bed, the only thing illuminating the room was the glow from his phone. He had swiped off Natasha's text page and was going to shut it off when he got a text from an unknown number.

*unknown number*: Mr. Stark, this is Ned, if you remember us from school? We were just at your place?

Tony frowned and replied.

04: yes?

*unknown number*: We've got a little problem…

04: what sort of problem?

*unknown number*: Peter is stuck in the bank near the library

04: a bank? Why a bank? It's 9 pm.

*unknown number* is typing…

Tony sighed as he waited for Ned to reply. He sat up and squinted out of the window. It was pretty dark out. His phone buzzed.

*unknown number*: its complicated. Can you get here and bust him out? There are robbers inside and we think they have guns. They trapped him inside.

Tony raised his eyebrow but quickly got out of bed.

04: um…okay? I'll be there give me a minute

He stuffed his phone into his pocket and grabbed his nanotech suit which was compressed into a jacket and slipped it on.

He silently opened his window and hopped out. He began to sprint down the road in the brisk night when he paused after a few streets. It would take him at least ten minutes to run to the city. He panted as and looked around the familiar street.

Stephen lived here.

He blinked mindlessly for a couple of seconds before scanning the letter boxes for Stephen's. He then ducked past the front door to the side where he calculated was where Stephen's bedroom was he.

Tony sighed, knowing very well Natasha would tease him about this in the morning as he activated his booster boots and rose up to window's level. He softly tapped on the window. A crash from inside followed.

Tony winced and watched as the window opened to reveal Stephen's face. Stephen stepped back in surprise, to see Tony there.

"What the hell are you doing here?" he exclaimed, glancing at his bedroom door.

Tony hopped inside, his boots deactivating. "I need your magic portal things," he quickly explained. "I need to go to the city to help Ned and Peter,"

"The new kids?" Stephen frowned, "What's so important-"

"Peter stuck in bank with some armed robbers or something," Tony shrugged. He glanced around Stephen's room. It was ten times smaller than his own and on the floor was a bunch of books, which he presumes was what made the crash sound before.

"Bank? Armed?" Stephen exclaimed again.

"Come on, I need to help them," Tony rolled his eyes. "And I can't get there fast enough, so, I need your help,"

Stephen sighed for a bit before pushing about some books on his desk to get his Sling Ring. "Fine, but if we die it's your fault,"

"Deal," Tony stood behind Stephen as he created the portal.

**...SceneChange...**

Tony and Stephen quietly hurried down the road to the back alley of the bank where they found Ned hiding behind a rubbish bin.

"Oh my god, you're here. Peter's stuck inside," Ned puffed.

"Right," Tony looked around.

"You brought Stephen?" Ned asked. "Hi, Stephen," Ned quickly smiled.

"Hey," Stephen pursed his lips. He shivered a bit in the cold. "How do we get in?"

"Peter went in through there," Ned pointed to a ventilation shaft a few meters above them on the wall.

"How…?" Stephen frowned.

"Do you need help getting up?" Tony asked.

Stephen turned to him. "Nah, I got this," he did some motions with his hands and in front of him appeared a hovering golden plate. He stepped up to it and another one appeared in front of it. As he stepped forward the one behind him disappeared until his got to the shaft where he climbed into.

Tony shrugged. "Cool," he activated his booster boots again and went up to the shaft as well. He looked down to Ned. "Tell us if anyone comes,"

The pair crawled through the small space until Stephen dropped down into a room.

"I can't believe we're breaking into a bank," Stephen sighed.

"Shhh," Tony stood beside him. He clicked some things on his phone and a pair of glasses materialized onto his face. Stephen just watched. "Okay, there are people in the next room," he whispered.

"Where's Peter?" Stephen asked.

"Oh hey guys," a quirky voice came from behind.

Tony whipped around and went to punch whoever it was.

It was Peter, of course, except he ducked the punch and stood back up. "Sorry," he whispered back. "Both of you are here?" he took off his mask.

Tony and Stephen glanced at each other and then at him. "What is this outfit you're wearing?" Tony poked Peter.

"It's nothing-"

"Wait a second, this is that spider thing on Youtube, right?" Tony looked up at Peter.

"Spiderman, right? You're Spiderman?" Stephen raised his eyebrow.

"Yeah, whatever," Peter bit his lip. "Don't tell anyone please, only Ned knows,"

"Right,"

"Not even us will know unless we get out of here," Stephen reminded them why they were there.

"The robbers are over there. I think they're having trouble with the machine," Peter muttered. "I didn't think they would have guns," he put his mask back on.

Tony clicked a button on his glasses. "Hmm, alright. Come on," they quietly edged closer to the door. "There's three of them. When I blast the door down, Peter, you sneak around and go behind them. I'll handle two of them, Stephen you can deal with the other one,"

"Okay…" Stephen said, unsure about the whole thing.

"Ready…three, two, one, GO!" Tony's boots re-materialized just before he kicked the door open. "Put down the weapons!" he yelled at the surprised robbers.

Tony raised both arms, which had palm-glowing gauntlets on each hand. Peter disappeared and Stephen wrapped a golden chain he had summoned around the third person. He ducked his head behind them as well, realizing he was the only one without something covering his face. Tony has his helmet on.

"Your turn kid," Tony said to Peter. He quickly webbed the three guys up separately and attached them to the walls. "Good job,"

"They're just kids, Terry. We got busted by kids," one of the perps complained.

The three of them began to sneak out of the room when one of the other guys kicked a cabinet which fell onto the alarm system. A loud siren deafened them.

"Let's go!" Stephen yelled.

"Out the back door!" Peter redirected them. They sprinted out of the bank and into the alleyway where they were greeted by Ned.

"You guys didn't die! Come on," They all sprinted through the back of the stores until they were well away from the sound of sirens.

The team paused at an empty park, all them panted.

"You," Tony pointed to Peter. "have some explaining to do,"

Peter sighed. "I know," Before he could continued, everyone turned their heads when they heard sirens again.

"We should really leave," Ned pointed out.

"Yeah,"

"Okay, good night then. We'll see each other tomorrow," Tony waved good bye as the two pairs parted. He and Stephen walked for a bit down the path. "That was exciting,"

"It was dangerous," Stephen pointed out. He put his hand into his jeans pocket when he froze. "Sh*t,"

"What is it?" Tony frowned, facing him.

"I think I dropped my sling ring,"

"Is that bad?" Tony asked.

"Well, for one we'll have to walk home in this cold and two, I'm gonna have to sneak another one out of the Sanctum,"

"Another one?" Tony smirked, continuing to walk.

"Yeah, I do loose them a lot so it won't be awfully suspicious," Stephen exclaimed.

"Are you cold?" Tony raised his eyebrow at his friend.

Stephen was wearing on a t-shirt and jeans and it had began to very lightly rain. "No," he plainly said.

"Liar," Tony frowned. "You've got goose bumps. Here," he shrugged off his jacket and shoved it into Stephen's hands.

"I'm not wearing that thousand dollar jacket. It's all nano-tech, isn't it?" Stephen put it back into Tony.

Tony shrugged. "And? You're cold,"

"Well now you're the one wearing only jeans and a t-shirt," Stephen sighed. "You're going to be cold.

They both quickly sprinted under a tree when it began to start to heavily rain. "Argh, it's still ages away until we reach home," Tony groaned.

"Does your nano-tech turn into an umbrella?" Stephen hopefully suggested.

"No yet," Tony sulked. "I haven't programmed it in yet," He looked up at "Can't you create an umbrella with your magic hands?"

Stephen shrugged. "I can try," he raised his hands slowly and muttered some words. There were some sparks but nothing appeared. "Well then I guess we have only one thing to do and that's to run in the rain," he sighed.

Tony groaned and he turned to Stephen. "You're going to wear the jacket,"

"No way, you're going to get sick if you get drenched,"

"So will you,"

"I was sick the other day so I won't get sick this time," Stephen insisted.

"That's not how it works," Tony pouted. "Wear it you stupid bean," he kept pushing it into Stephen's chest.

"Fine, if you shut up," Stephen held the jacket. Tony look satisfied. "Now, are you ready to walk through this rain?" The rain had gotten a lot heavier.

"Can't be too bad," Tony shrugged. He grabbed Stephen's hand and looked forward. "Ready?"

"Let's go," They stepped out into the rain and began to speed-walk down the road.

**...SceneChange...**

When Tony stepped out of the car the first thing he heard was; "Stop avoiding him, Tony," from Bruce.

"What do you mean?"

Bruce walked along side him as they entered the school grounds. "Stephen. All week you two have been low-key flirting but never talking about the issue,"

Tony sighed. "Well there's just never been time to discuss it,"

Bruce raised his eyebrow but frowned when Tony sneezed. "Are you sick?"

Tony quickly shook his head. "Nope, I- *sneeze*- probably just got some dust up my nose or something,"

Bruce blinked but shook his head. "Anyways, you need to talk to him,"

Tony shrugged as they went though the double doors into the main school building. "Oh well I guess. I'll work it out,"

Their conversation was drowned out but sudden loud yelling from around the corner near the lockers. Tony and Bruce walked to it and was astounded by the scene.

There were toilet rolls scatter everywhere, at least one dented locker door and Gamora had Than against the lockers. She had her finger just centimeters away from his face.

"You just mess everything up- don't you!" she yelled. She looked awfully intimidating.

To the side was Natasha and Clint, who approached Tony and Bruce.

"Welcome to the show," Clint smiled, with a muffled voice. He was holding tissues on his very bloody nose.

"What happened?" Tony asked.

Natasha glanced back at the scene, where more people had crowded to watch. "Than's been suspended until the authorities and such look at our evidence. I think Gamora and Nebula's parent's don't want his as a 'bad role-model' so they're cutting off some of their extra-curricular activities as punishment,"

"Punishment for being related to that jerk?" Bruce frowned in confusion.

"I dunno man, but they're both getting real mad at him," Clint shrugged. The four looked back at the scene.

Nebula had now walked up to their cousin and delivered a clean punch. By now, a large crowd had formed and they could hear Coulson's voice in the distance.

"Let's get out of here," Natasha let the others back out into the garden.

"Why are you bleeding so much?" Bruce asked Clint.

"It all began because Than came up to me," he explained.

"He blames Clint for 'telling on him'," Natasha fumed.

"Then Nat, Gamora and Nebula came up to defend me," Clint finished. "It has been a chaotic morning,"

Tony sneezed again. "Are you sick?" Natasha said, worriedly.

"No," Tony insisted. "Probably the hay fever,"

"Tony, it's literally 15 degrees out here [Celsius]," Bruce sighed.

"Fine, I may be sick but don't tell Stephen otherwise he'll actually murder me," Tony muttered.

Almost on cue, Stephen and some of the others came up behind them.

"Hello crew," Sam exclaimed but faltered when he saw Clint's bloody face. "Damn, that fight in there got rough,"

"The only casualty was Than, let me assure you," Clint said smugly, but then had to run off to the bathroom for more tissues.

Then Stephen sneezed.

Natasha took a moment before pointing at them both. "HA!" she broke into a smile.

"What?" Stephen stared blankly at Bruce and Natasha's sneaky faces. He frowned at Tony who just meekly shrugged.

As Natasha and Bruce confused the rest of the group by whispering things at each other, Tony spotted Ned and Peter enter the school gates. He did a bad fake cough and then eyed Stephen. "Ahem, I need to go and check out the thing with Mr Willaims," he slowly left the group.

Stephen caught his drift and tried to sneak off too but Natasha caught him. "Where are you going, wizard boy?"

"Um, to get more tissue's for this cold?" Stephen made up an excuse and then a perfectly timed sneeze came along too. Natasha shrugged with a wink and then turned back to help get the glitter out of Carol's hair.

Stephen left the group and met Tony, who had seemingly rounded up Ned and Peter. He led them all into an empty science room.

"Alright, now that we're along, explain," Tony crossed his arms.

Peter bit his lip. "Well, a couple months ago, I was visiting this museum science lab place and they had this special spider exhibit-"

"But then we realized one of the spiders were missing-" Ned interrupted.

"And then the next thing I knew, I had been bitten by something which then I thought was just a mosquito bite or something-"

"Now we know it was the missing spider,"

Peter continued, "But then I was sick for like a whole month before I got all these cool powers,"

"Powers? So you're specialized," Stephen asked.

"Uh, yeah," Peter nodded. "See, I'm all sticky so I can climb on walls,"

"And he has a-uh…Peter Tingle too!" Ned added.

"Spider-sense!" Peter corrected. "Anyways, I made these web shooters to help me, look,"

He whipped out his hand in a special motion with his wrist and a mental band appeared around his forearm. He put his hand into a position and shot a web out. He looked up at Stephen and Tony hopefully.

Tony walked over to where the web landed and picked it up. "You made this?"

"Yeah, it took a while but I created the perfect formula for them," Peter replied.

Tony glanced at Stephen. "This is good stuff. You're a smart kid,"

"What are you doing now then? With the whole 'saving people' thing," Stephen frowned.

"Oh that, I just some times do night patrols," he shrugged.

"It's dangerous though," Tony said, sticking the web onto a table.

"Yeah well it's also dangerous for the people who are in trouble and at least I can defend myself," Peter smiled.

"Well I guess we can't stop you but we can help you,"

"Like last night?" Ned piped up.

"Yeah, like last night,"

**...ooft...**

**ahh,, im so sorry for being a bit late,, uh i have been having an art/drawing spree, all in the middle of an assignment that's due soon,,,ahhh**

**anyways, the comic's 2nd page's half done [lineart and colour is left,,] so that's coming soon unless i get killed by due dates ahha,**

**thanks/**DJ


	17. FIFTEEN: A Knight In Shining Armour

**" **stephen headed into the supermarket to find some 'lemons'** "**

**a knight in shining armour**

Stephen rushed passed the crowded gardens in front of the school. The end of the day always had everyone under stress as they looked for their parent's cars or friends. Stephen tried to find Tony but with no luck. He weaved through the crowd, almost tripped multiple times. He was moving surprisingly fast through the pack of people, those Combat Classes must be paying off.

Except, not for long. Stephen bumped into someone as they crossed in front of him and they both toppled on top of each other on the grassy side of the main path.

"Shit sorry-" Stephen muttered breathlessly, trying to stand up as he was on top. "Oh," he blinked, as he realised he had fallen onto the one and only Everett Ross.

"It's fine-" Ross began.

"You were moving quite fast," Carols's voice was heard from behind them.

Stephen rolled to the side and sat on the grass. Some of the exchange students were watching them in amusement. "Uh, yeah, I was just looking for someone,"

Gamora, who was there, smirked. "Alright," she helped Everett up.

Stephen got himself up. "Where were you guys headed?"

"We're going back to the house," Rocket shrugged. The exchange students lived in a house SHIELD provided for them while they attended the school. "Some of the others...uh, Val, Peter, Ned, and Jane have gone with Stark and Natasha to some stupid place-"

"Yeah," Darcy rolled her eyes. "Jane ditched me to go to this fancy-schmancy tower-"

"-Stark Tower," Peter (Q.) corrected.

"Stark Tower?" Stephen frowned.

"Yeah, some special tour or something," Carol shrugged.

Stephen didn't really react. "Oh,"

"Well, maybe do you want to come with us? We're doing some of the homework and this stuff is quite difficult," Ross asked.

"I normally have Jane to help me, but this would be fantastic! You're like, the smartest guy here," Darcy encouraged.

"Not the smartest-" Stephen began.

"Pfft, ignore Stark for a second," Carol cut him off. The group started to walk and Stephen found himself following.

The house they were staying at wasn't too far from the school and it was rather big, of course, to hold that many teenagers in.

"Welcome," Carol said as she opened the door. It was very much like a boarding school's wing. There was a 'common room' and some stairs that led up to rooms. The whole place was pretty messy, but considering a bunch of basically 'specialised' teenage students lived there, it wasn't as bad as it could be.

"...this is nice," Stephen commented.

"Now with this homework, I don't get the thing about physics," Rocket began.

"What about Physics?" Stephen asked.

"All of it,"

**...SceneChange...**

Tony leaned against the bench in the break room, amused at his friend's reactions to the tower he had just shown them. They continued to be awed at the coffee machine that was in the 16th floor's breakroom.

"This is cool," Ned exclaimed, selecting some options on the screen.

"This machine has more intelligence behind it than most items in people's households," Jane said, looking through every crevice and technicality. She had her notebook in her hand where she was scribbling stuff down.

"Look, my hot chocolate's coming out!" Peter announced, and the other two scrambled to the end of the machine, where it produced Peter's hot chocolate in all dramatic fashion.

"Nerds," Val grinned, crossing her arms where she and Nat sat near Tony.

"Who invented the machine, Tony?" Natasha asked, chewing on a muffin.

"I made it at about 3 am one morning when my dad got mad at me for using his coffee machine," Tony shrugged. "He refurnished it and then put it on the market,"

"Check out the 'hold my beer' option," Peter 'awed', pointing to one of the buttons as he sipped on his mug.

"There's an 'I've got exams tomorrow and I haven't studied' option too," Ned noted, amused.

Tony then suddenly entered a small coughing fit before groaning.

Natasha raised her eyebrow in concern. "We should probably go home so you can rest,"

"Uh, thanks," Tony mumbled, heading to the door. The others simultaneously followed him out of the break room.

He led them to the elevator and the group entered. He pressed some commands into the machine but stayed outside. "Um, you guys head out. I need to get some supplied from my dad's office,"

"Alright," Natasha shrugged, slurping on her 'I need a break' drink.

"Thanks for the tour!" Jane thanked just as the elevator doors closed.

Tony smiled in response but entered another elevator to the top floor. He sighed as he waited to the elevator to reach his stop but he managed to not fall asleep from exhaustion. As the elevator 'dinged' and stopped to a finish, Tony hoped out.

There wasn't anyone in the top floor, as the whole floor was basically Howard Stark's office and sometimes, his sleeping quarters on those long nights. Tony had an access card. This was also where Howard Stark kept some of his supplies and chemicals.

As far as Tony knew, Howard was in a meeting on a lower level, so no unnecessary face to face moments needed to happen. Tony entered a small storage cupboard and took out a box when he froze.

"Welcome, Mr Stark," said an automated voice. It had greeted Tony as well, so Tony knew he wasn't the 'Mr Stark' it was referring to.

Tony had a technical assistance as well, although he was still developing it but his had a personality. Howards didn't. So it snitched Tony out right away.

"Your son is here,"

Tony cursed and shut the door closed and tried to see if he could calculate an escape.

"Tony?" Howard's voice echoed through the suite.

"Yes?" Tony replied, his voice getting a little high. I will be noticed on the way out. He can't hurt me. He can't afford suspicions raised.

"Come here,"

Tony slowly made his way to the main entrance room. "Yes?"

Howard stood there, with a briefcase. "What are you doing here?"

"I was giving my friends a tour of Stark Tower," Tony said honestly.

"Not in here?" Howard walked over to a kitchen bench.

"No, just the 16th floor and below," Tony hastily added.

There was silence as Howard served himself some water. "Congratulations on your Chemistry test,"

"Thank you?" Tony said, not knowing what he was referring to, as they just did the test yesterday and he didn't have the results yet.

"105 per cent, as usual," Howard stated. He put down the glass. "I have spoken to Mr Fury,"

Tony raised his eyebrow in concern. That could be good.

"You will finish this unit of work in your Chemistry, Physics and Biology classes and then you are transferring to MIT,"

Tony almost spat out the water he didn't have in his mouth. "What?"

"MIT, the school you belong to. I've had enough of these 105 per cents, these half-assed done assignments-"

"Half-assed?" Tony frowned, baffled at this conversation. He felt his emotions filing up,.

"Yes." Howard stared back at his child. "You belong to a good university which will expand your knowledge and abilities,"

"I belong where I want to. I like SHIELD!" Tony protested.

"You got shot at that school," Howard frowned. "It is supposed to be a school of defence, and yet it was infiltrated,"

Tony had to force himself not to say anything about Than and what they knew. His father probably already knew, being the co-founder of the school. "Well, I got the arc-reactor at home! I'm in danger everywhere,"

"That's not the point. It's too late anyway. You've been enrolled and accepted. As I said, you begin when your units end, which I believe is in two weeks," Howard finalised. He left to another room, leaving Tony completely bashed.

"This is so stupid," Tony gritted through his clenched teeth. He found himself with his nano-tech gauntlet forming on his arm, reacting to his emotion. In anger, and through his tears, his blasted a repulsive blast at a vase before leaving to the elevator.

He heard his fathers angry yelled but they were muffled out as the elevator lowered down to level 1.

**...SceneChange...**

Stephen almost fell asleep but was shook awake by Carol. "Come on sleepyhead,"

"Sorry," Stephen rubbed his eyes. "Just tired,"

"It's 5:30," Rocket rolled his eyes. "Is this all?" he held out the Physics worksheet they had been working on.

"Yeah," Stephen nodded.

"Great. Now I can work on my blasters," Rocket pulled out a toolbox with potentially illegal mechanical parts.

"Right..." Stephen stood up. "I should leave,"

"Aw okay," Darcy rolled off the couch and onto her feet. "Thanks for the help!"

"No problem," Stephen smiled and headed to the door.

As he was leaving, he got a message from his mother.

Mother: -can you get some lemons from the store?-

: -sure-

Stephen walked down the sidewalk and headed for the main town square. The SHIELD house was surprisingly close to the school and the main town, so it was convenient. And of course, Stark Tower was on the main town square along with the supermarket.

After a short glance at the skyscraper and wondering what Tony and his friends did in the 'tour', Stephen headed into the supermarket to find some 'lemons'.

**...SceneChange...**

If Tony didn't leave the Tower in such a rush or with that many negative emotions flowing through him, he might've noticed the Westwood students loitering around the entrance of Stark Tower.

The Westwood students weren't wearing their obnoxious yellow polo shirt uniform but Tony should've recognised them since one of them was Than.

Tony only noticed when he got a punch in the jaw as he entered one of the quieter streets heading off the main square. He was heading to the bus stop to his house when he was ambushed by three Westwood students with a body mass twice his size.

"What the hell-" Tony exclaimed, as he fell onto the ground. He spun around to face his attackers. His face went white when he realised it was Than and some of his friends.

"You managed to scramble right out of our hands when we were trying to find the arc reactor," Than grimaced, readying his knuckles.

"You gave the shooters access-" Tony began but was cut off by another punch to the jaw. He fell onto his back and tried to sit up but one of the others kicked him in the side.

"If we are getting imprisoned or something, at least we're going to get what we came for," Another of the Westwood's smirked.

"You can't- you can't take the arc reactor out unless you have the tools," Tony coughed.

"I have the tools," Obadiah's voice came from behind Than as he revealed himself. The dark blonde haired brute was holding some thin tools.

"You kept them?" Tony wheezed in dismay. It had been a couple of years ago since Obadiah had attempted to plagiarize Tony's work, including the arc reactor when Tony invented it.

"Of course," Obadiah passed the tools to Than, who bent over Tony.

"Are you ready?" Than whispered.

Tony held out his hand in front of him. "Nope," and blasted a temporary paralysing shot right into Than's face.

As Tony scrambled backwards, Than flew back and landed onto the road.

"He killed him!" one of the others exclaimed, running over to Than's motionless body.

"He's just p-paralysed," Tony muttered, his head whirling.

Obadiah turned around to face him, picking up the tools Than had dropped. "Not too fast, Stark,"

**...SceneChange...**

When Stephen had left the supermarket and saw the faint blue blast from behind a building he knew something was wrong. Not everyone he knew had something that could blast blue energy. In fact, he only knew one person who could do that.

So he sprinted to the empty street, which he was going to walk to anyways since his bus home was on that street. He was greeted with a wild scene.

Two Westwood students were wailing over a motionless body, which Stephen later identified as Than, and Obadiah bent over Tony.

Tony.

Stephen dropped the bag of lemons and felt power rush to his hands. "What are you doing?" he said in a loud voice, walking up to Obadiah and Tony.

To his surprise, Obadiah almost fell back in surprise and quickly stumbled backwards. "Um- I-" he stuttered, holding his arms up in 'surrender'.

"What are you doing?" Stephen almost yelled, swiping his hand at the tools Obadiah had. They basically disintegrated in Stephen's hands.

Obadiah's face went pale and he ran off. The Westwood pair had begun to help Than to his feet, who was now conscious.

"Leave," Stephen growled at them.

"We are," a Westwood meekly replied and the trio limped away.

Stephen suddenly felt cold as all the energy and power left his body and he almost collapsed onto the concrete with Tony. He settled with falling to his knees and crawling over to Tony.

Tony was leaning against a pole with bruises and a couple of cuts on his face and arms. "Are you alright? What were they doing?" Stephen asked, caressing Tony's profile.

"What about you? What...was that?" Tony mumbled. His head was beginning to hurt.

"What do you mean?" Stephen frowned, sitting a bit straighter as he felt his energy slowly regaining.

Tony's eyes searched Stephen's face. "You...were glowing, your eyes were glowing," he tried to explain, but a cough interrupted.

"I was?"

"Yeah, I could almost feel the...power radiating off you," Tony tried to grin. "You also disintegrated those tools,"

"I guess I did," Stephen glanced back at the dust that was the remains of them. "What were they doing to you?"

"They wanted the arc reactor," Tony replied, slowly trying to get up.

"Here," Stephen stood up faster and help him up. "Hold on a sec," Tony held onto the pole for support as Stephen quickly grabbed the bag of lemons he had dropped earlier and then ran back to Tony.

"Come on, your bus stop is the same as mine right?" Stephen put his arm around Tony to support him as they walked down the street.

"Yeah," Tony nodded.

**END of chapter**

u**hh,, this is a slightly shorter chapter than usual,,, um,, authors block anyone?**

**i'd just like to say that i have realised how many reads this book and the original have,, uhh the love and feedback ive had it huge...like- ahhh *throws kudos back***

**um, also, quick thing, i am still in the progress of drawing the 3rd page of the comic (lineart and colouring) AND ive filmed some of the process so in a bit im thinking about doing a 'how i draw comics' tutorial video type thing to post on my youtube,, um but ill update more on that when ive finished more! ahah,**

**anyways, thanks for the endless support, ily all :D**

**stay tuned for the [hopefully not] slow updates, lets see how nice school wants to treat me,**

**and inspiration! ****if you have any songs that inspire ironstrange or highschool/au than i will gladly accept! i can't find any good songs or playlists,i think spotify has cursed me TwT**

**[um, for you guys on have had no updates on the progress of this chapter but on wattpad ive been updating my readers about my authors block TwT um, so sorry for the lack of updates on new chapters on here!]**

**thanks/**DJ


	18. SIXTEEN: Call The Police

**" **maybe they were going to get some drugs? **"**

**call the police**

_uh oh things get wack_

"Are you sure?" Tony asked, unreasonably sceptical of the whole thing.

"It's fine," Stephen sighed. He had helped Tony on and off the bus and insisted on taking him to his place since it was closer.

"But I could easily go back home and check up on myself," Tony continued to doubt.

"They could've affected something important and you'd have no idea. You may be a genius but you don't yet have a PhD in medicine," Stephen opened the front gate to his home.

"How did I not know your mother had a PhD," Tony mumbled **(i really doubt this is canon, after searching the very limited info i found on mother strange, um, but oh well).**

"Maybe because before you were too self-absorbed?" Stephen smirked, opening the door.

"Don't insult me, I almost died," Tony whined.

Stephen shook his head and walked into the house with Tony lingering behind. "Mom?! I'm home,"

"Hey," the light voice of a women came from the lounge.

"Um, hey mom?" Stephen led Tony to the lounge room, where Tony saw a blonde woman sitting with their back towards them on the couch, reading. "Um, you know my friend Tony?

"Yeah?" Stephen's mother turned around and made a concerned face when she saw Tony. "What happened?" she immediately stood up.

"Some kids beat him up," Stephen explained as she got out a first aid kit.

"Hi?" Tony awkwardly waved.

"He's probably fine but I was just worried his arc-reactor was effected," Stephen shrugged, gesturing for Tony to sit down.

"It's probably nothing," Tony repeated. "I told him I really didn't need to come-"

"Don't worry about it. It's nice to finally meet you," she took out some examination equipment.

"Um, thanks? Mrs Strange," Tony stuttered.

"You can call me Beverly," she smiled, before eying him. "From a glance, you've got nothing too bad on you other than the usual that results from a casual fight," she glanced at his chest where the faint glow of his arc-reactor lay. "I've studied your report on the arc-reactor a few years ago when you created it,"

"Really? I thought only the dumb Government read it since they asked for it. Oh, and the 'want to create an ultimate weapon' wannabes," Tony raised his eyebrow.

She held out a metal thing with a light attached. "No, most doctors read it. We thought it could be a great medical advancement. Although, as we soon found out, the technology is too advanced for us to adapt," she grinned.

"Oh, well, I could try and help and see. I'm sure it wouldn't be too hard-"

"You sound exactly like Stephen," Beverly laughed. Stephen, who was sitting on the other couch scrolling through his phone glanced up in confusion.

"Is that a good thing?" Tony asked.

"It depends," Beverly nodded to his chest. "Do you mind lifting your shirt up so I can see?"

Tony blinked. "Um, sure," he awkwardly pulled up his shirt to reveal the metal contraption on his chest. The glow was a lot more visible now. He glanced up at Stephen, who seemed to be fixated on his phone.

"It's so different seeing it in person," Beverly awed. "There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with it, the muscle around it seems fine. What are these scratches?" she pointed to the fresh cuts around the reactor. She ignored the bullet scar that was on his side.

"Oh, those were from the fight,"

"Were you fighting a cat?"

"No, they wanted the arc-reactor-" Tony was cut off.

"They were teasing him about it," Stephen quickly stood up. "Remember?" he eyed Tony, reminding him of the confidentiality of the whole 'Than or something wants the arc-reactor' thing.

"Oh yeah," Tony shrugged. "But I'm fine right?"

"Yes, you should be fine," Beverly said, ignoring the oddity of what was just said.

"Why did you seem tired afterwards then?" Stephen asked.

"Well, I tried to use the nanotech, which is primarily powered by my reactor, so, I don't know," Tony sighed.

Beverly stood up, putting away the stuff. "Do you two want something to drink?"

"No thanks," Tony answered. Stephen sat down next to Tony, also shaking his head.

"Alrighty," and then she left to the kitchen.

"She's nice," Tony said, initiating small talk.

"Yeah,"

"So...does she do the whole..." Tony then did some weird hand movements.

"What, my enhancement?" Stephen frowned, amused at Tony's interpretation.

"Yeah,"

"No. I learned it all from books," Stephen replied. "She is supportive of it though,"

"Huh. Does she like me? Most people's parent's don't," Tony asked.

Stephen grinned. "I think she likes you. Although she does use you against me in regards to grades,"

"What do you mean?"

"It's a joke, but it's a 'Oh, you got 2 pEr cEnT less than tOnY' type thing. It's been going on since I came to SHIELD," Stephen explained.

"Wow," Tony stared at the floor. There was some silence until Tony spotted a family picture on the coffee table. "Is this your sister?" he pointed to the younger girl in the frame.

"Yeah," Stephen nodded.

"You have a brother too?" Tony asked about the even younger male in the picture aside form Stephen.

"His name is Viktor. He's younger than Donna," Stephen said. "He's probably at his after school activity thing he does,"

"So your mom raised all three of you by herself?"

"Yeah. All while getting her doctorate," Stephen added.

"That's tough. I guess I now know where you get your stubborn intelligence from," Tony joked.

"I guess," Stephen laid back on the couch. His phone then beeped.

"Who's that?" Tony asked.

"Uh, Natasha," he replied, picking up the phone. "I texted her what happened,"

Tony glanced at the phone screen. "What'd she say?"

"Um, she seems pretty mad, I'm not really sure,"

**...SceneChange...**

"Those gross and disgusting casseroles couldn't get arrested faster!" Natasha fumed, as she and the others were walking through the neighbourhood. They were heading to this small park that was nearby.

Those who were with her were those who were at Stark Tower with Tony a few hours before. Jane, Ned, and Val were with her. Peter had just left to go back to the Exchange House to get somethings.

"So was there a fight?" Darcy's voice came out of the dodgy speaker on Jane's phone.

"Yes, but no one was really hurt," Jane explained.

"I swear to god Than wants to disgrace our entire family!" Gamora's outraged voice came though as well.

"They're going to get caught. We have full evidence of his confession AND he just attacked Tony. He will get caught," Natasha sighed.

"This is so stupid. Why can we just punch him?" Val flexed her fingers.

"We'll get in trouble," Natasha rolled her eyes. They had arrived at the park but her eyes widened when she realised who the edgy teenagers loitering about it was. "fu*Ck,"

"What is it?" Jane asked, just before realising why.

The edgy teenagers were none other than Than and some of his buddies laughing their heads off before they noticed Natasha and the others. "Hey check it out, it's the rest of those losers," Than began, a nasty grin forming on his face.

"Hey Red, do you know where Stark and his boyfriend ran off to hide like the cowards they are? We kinda need his little blue box," one of his friends sneered at Natasha.

"As much as I would like them to be dating already, but Stephen is not Tony's boyfriend and I have no idea where they are," she lied in response, clenching her teeth.

"Should we tell someone?" Ned whispered, waving his phone up.

"Call the police," Natasha mumbled back in response as one of the Westwood's called another insult while they approached closer.

Ned hid behind Val as he dialled 000/999/911. Val glared at the now closer bullies. "Why are you doing this Than? I'm sure there's a bigger man behind this whole stupid scheme,"

"Of course there is," Than snarled, looking pretty intimidating in his black hoodie. "My father has despised the Starks for centuries. Once we have enough energy to power our weapons-hey!" Than noticed Ned hiding. "No calling the police," he swiped, trying to get him.

Ned dodged out of the way as he began to speak fast into the phone.

"Alright stop it," Val stuck out her arm, knocking one of the other Eshays as they tried to grab Ned. Ned then began to dial another number.

"Who are you calling!?" Than screeched, trying to get Natasha off him.

"No one," Ned glared at Than as he raised his phone to his eyes. "Hey guys, we found Than and that. His father is apparently behind the whole thing. Yes! We've called the police," Ned rambled on, ignoring Natasha and Val holding down Than and his two buddies with Jane filming the whole thing.

"Yeah, we're fine," Ned smirked at Than as he hung up. They all heard the police sirens coming closer.

"Let us go!" Than tried to get out of their holds but Natasha wouldn't budge.

**...SceneChange...**

Peter put down his phone. "That sucks,"

"Argh, I actually despite A'lar and his stupid son!" Gamora screamed into a pillow. They were lounging in the common space in their dorms.

"If his father finds out his son has been arrested he might attack Tony again, or run away," Nebula pointed out.

"Maybe we should go and stop him!" Carol suggested, standing on the coffee table. "Or at least, you know, make sure Alar doesn't run away,"

"You know what? I've had enough of my uncle and their shenanigans, ruining all of our lives," Gamora sat up straight. "Carol's right. Who wants to go and spy on his house,"

"I'll go," Nebula stood up.

"Me too! You might need backup," Peter smiled, putting his phone in his pocket.

"I'll shall join!" Carol got excited and her hair fizzed. They glanced at Rocket, who was frowning at them.

"What the hell," he shrugged and stood up. "I ain't got that long of a lifespan anyway. Now I'm standing, you all happy? We're all standing now. Bunch of jackasses standing in a circle-"

"Stop being so pessimistic," Carol rolled her eyes as they all left the room to the front door.

Rocket brushed his messy hair out of his face. "Ugh, whatever,"

And the team was formed. They marched (well, sort of took the bus) down to the dodgiest neighbourhood and straight to Alar's home (well, they did take a nacho break).

"Alright," Gamora whispered as they hid behind a bush in the front yard. "Do you see anything?"

Rocket peered through his binoculars through the window into the lounge room. "Nothing really,"

"Where is he?"

"Is he home?"

The team shrugged at each other.

"His car is in the driveway," Nebula pointed out.

They kept spying in confusion until Peter said; "Wait second, what's..." he pointed to the faint white mist that was coming from beneath them. The faint white mist became thicker as it rose.

"Sleeping gas!" Gamora began but started to cough.

"Don't breath it in-" but Rocket immediately passed out. Peter managed to crawl out but he found himself face to face with the ugliest man he ever saw. And that was the last thing he saw before passing out.

**...SceneChange...**

Darcy hummed as she entered through the front door. She chucked the keys onto the coffee table and collapsed onto the couch. It took her a few seconds to realise the house was suspiciously quiet. She slowly sat back up, alert.

"Hello? Guys?" she asked. She cautiously stood up. "It's not funny!" she picked up a baseball bat that was close by. "I'm armed! Don't you dare jump out and scare me,"

There wasn't a response. Darcy quietly walked into the kitchen, which was also isolated. She glanced at the clock. It was 6 pm. She had left only a few minutes ago to get some chips but she accidentally ate them on the way back.

"Hello?" she repeated one more time. Did they leave to go somewhere? she thought.

She then lowered the bat and took out her phone. She dialled Gamora's number and let it ring out. No answer. She dialled Rockets. Nothing. Even Peter didn't answer. She frowned.

She then decided to ring Jane. She did pick up. "Jane!" Darcy exclaimed. "Do you know where the others are? I left to the supermarket only like 15 minutes ago, now I'm back and they're gone,"

"Gone? What do you mean?" Jane's voice buzzed.

"No here? They're not answering. Jaaaane, do you think they ran away from me? Because I ate all the chips?" Darcy whined.

"I don't think so," Jane sighed. Some chatter was heard over the phone. "Listen, I'm busy. Try calling them again,"

"Where are you guys?" Darcy frowned.

"Police station, we caught Than and some of his friends," Jane quickly answered before hanging up.

Darcy stuck her tongue out at her phone and sighed. "Ugh," and then she dialled another number. Stephen's.

"Stephhhhhen!" Darcy whined again. "All my friends ditched me,"

"Really?" Stephen sounded amused.

"Is Tony there?"

"Uh, yeah? Why?"

"Jane's at the police station and the others have vanished. Can I come over?" Darcy asked in the sweetest voice she could come up with.

"Police station? Why are they there?" Tony's voice came through.

"Something about how they caught Than and his dumb friends," Darcy shrugged. "I'm coming over," she stated, grabbing her keys and hoping through the front door again.

"Wait, where are your other friends? Like, Nebula and Rocket? Where are they?" Stephen asked.

"No idea. I left the house for 3 seconds and when I came back they were gone," Darcy shrugged, entering a bus that had arrived. "They won't answer my phone calls,"

"Who did you call?" Tony asked.

"Um, Peter? And Rocket. And Gamora. Not Nebula. She wouldn't answer anyone's phone calls," Jane listed.

"Hm, that's weird," Tony said.

"What's weird?" Darcy asked, squinting at nothing. She tried to hear better.

"I've tried to track their phones but they've got no signal or anything," Tony explained. "The only way for a phone to not exist on these trackers is if they've been completed turned off or, well, destroyed,"

"That's awfully suspicious," Darcy frowned. The bus halted to a stop and she got off.

"It is," Stephen 'hmed'. "Do you have any idea where they could be?"

"No. Otherwise, I wouldn't be at your front door," Darcy shrugged and rang a bell. She smirked when she heard the bell come through her speaker as Stephen and Tony heard it. She hung up just as the door opened.

"How'd you get here so fast?" Stephen frowned.

"The bus," Darcy shrugged, walking in. Tony was on the couch, typing into a computer.

"Hey, Darcy. I've gone through the history of the signals," Tony began. "To try and see where they were late before their phones went AWOL,"

"Have you found them?" Darcy asked.

"Not yet..." Tony looked focused.

Stephen sat down. "Hopefully nothing bad has happened,"

"Got it!" Tony exclaimed. "The last time the satellite scanned they were in Titan Rd,"

"That's odd, that's like the dodgiest place here," Stephen frowned.

"Maybe they were going to get some drugs?" Darcy suggested. "Although I'm pretty sure Rocket's allergic to like, everything in existence,"

"Wait," Tony typed something in and did some hacking with Stephen observing.

"Why are you hacking the school's private student details?" Stephen asked.

"Because, there," Tony pointed to one of the student's files.

Darcy read it out loud for dramatic effect: "Than A'lar, Home Address, 34 Titan Rd...ohhhh,"

"You think they went to Than's house?" Stephen frowned.

"Well, why else would they be there?" Tony shut the laptop.

"To get drugs?" Darcy suggested but got distracted by the bowl of lemons Stephen's mom had on the shelf.

"For some reason, the former sounds more believable," Tony sighed, standing up. "Let's go see if they're okay,"

"Are you sure? It could be dangerous," Stephen raised his eyebrow. "Maybe we should call the police,"

"What if it's nothing? What if they've gone there to spy on him and turned off their phones?" Tony said.

"At least call our friends and get back up," Stephen insisted. "We know what the Alar family is capable of,"

"I agree with the wizard," Darcy pointed out.

"Alright, I'll call Steve," Tony sighed, taking out his phone. They fell silent as Steve answered.

Except all they heard first was; "Aim for the head!" which sounded an awful lot like Clint.

It was followed by; "Shut up you four! It's Tony,"

"Oooh! Is Stephen there?" It was definitely Clint.

"Um, hey?" Tony began. "You're on speaker,"

"What's wrong?" Steve asked. "You're also on speaker,"

"Hello!" Sam's voice seemed amused.

They quickly explained the situation. "Stephen says it might be better if we get back up. Natasha, Val, Jane and Ned are at the Police Station with Than,"

There was some silence before Steve answered. "Alright, we'll meet you on the corner between Titan Rd and Morag St,"

"Gotcha," Tony nodded.

"See ya!" Darcy waved at the phone as Tony hung up.

"Okay, let's go," Tony put his phone in his pocket.

"Mom?" Stephen called into the kitchen. "Tony and I are going out for a bit, okay?"

"It's 7 o'clock, where are you going?" Beverly's voice was heard.

"Um, just to get some chips," Stephen came up with an excuse.

"Alright, stay safe!"

And with that, the three of them snuck out.

**...SceneChange...**

"Should we have been more prepared? I feel like someone's gonna jump us," Darcy muttered, glancing around Morag St.

"We're fine," Tony replied.

"There are the others," Darcy pointed to the cluster of guys on the corner.

"Shh!" Thor hushed Sam and Bucky, who was messing around.

"Hey," Steve smiled. "We got some more back up," he nodded towards Wanda and Loki, who was standing together.

"Oh, great!" Stephen acknowledged them.

"I really think we should be fine," Tony sighed. "There's way too many of us. Than's dad will spot us a mile away,"

"Well then, we split up. One group goes into the front yard, the rest can spy in," Clint suggested.

"That's a good idea," Steve nodded. "Stephen, Tony, Loki and Clint, go in. We'll spy,"

"What about me?" Darcy pouted.

"You can't fight. If something goes wrong it's best they deal with it," Steve assured.

The team staying behind hid in other people's bushes and fences. Tony and that team snuck into the front yard.

"Can you see anything?" Stephen asked the others as they peered into a window.

"Nope," Clint squinted.

"Hey, Loki, can you do that magic window thing?" Tony suggested.

"Good idea," Loki sat back and begun conjuring up a circular shape with his hands. The magic suddenly sparked and disappeared.

"What happened?" Tony frowned.

"I...I don't know," Loki tried again. "It's not working," she flicked her hands again, trying another spell. Nothing.

"Maybe there's a 'no magic' spell working here," Stephen said.

"Let's go up to the porch," Tony suggested, walked out.

"Tony!" Stephen hissed. "Ugh, we're going to get caught," he sighed as he followed.

Loki got up and went after them. Clint rolled swiftly through the yard. They hid underneath the window sill.

"Can you hear anything?" Tony asked.

"Nope," Clint whispered back.

The light from inside was becoming more evident as outside got darker. "There's definitely someone in there," Stephen stated, as they all saw faint shadows move in the light projecting out. It was about 8 pm now.

They all tensed as the front door slowly creaked open.

"Shit," Loki muttered. Tony's gauntlet quietly materialised.

The artificial light fell into the yard and a shadow was also cast. They all held their breath.

"There's no one sir," whoever was making the shadow said.

Part of Tony's headgear was activated and he turned around quietly as he looked through the wall. He then looked at the others and held up two fingers. The others frowned at him in confusion.

They were only about a metre away from the door. The anyone stepped outside they would immediately notice them.

Tony pursed his lips and typed something on his phone. He held it up.

2 men are inside. let's take them

All of them shook their head. Stephen mouthed 'no'.

Tony rolled his eyes. 'Come on', he mouthed back. He laid back against the wall in defeat.

The door closed. The team internally sighed in relief.

And then everything went to chaos.

**...end for chapter...**

**ahhh this was so lateeeeee im so sorryyyy**

**thank you to everyone who bombarded my notifications with likes and comments! i noticed there were a lot of new comers, so welcome to this chaotic mess. and to those who went back to read the first book and this one again (?) , uh,, ? *dies***

**um, the next page of the comic is definitely going to be a bit later,,,, uh**

**i got a SAC on tuesday,, um,, and assignments are killing me this week, so super sorry! **

**anyways, i think this series is coming to a close soon,,um sorry to disappoint? ah **

**thankssss/**DJ


	19. SEVENTEEN: Split

**" **then why aren't you just running away like the coward you are **"**

**split**

_things climax_

Steve watched as Bucky and Sam immaturely wrestled each other when they all heard it.

When they heard the **b a n g.**

Everyone jolted up. "What was that?" Thor frowned, wrapping his fingers around the bat he brought.

"That sounded awfully like a bullet," Steve stated.

"Are you sure?" Darcy 'eeshed', worriedly.

Steve picked up his makeshift shield. "Uh, we were shot at last term last term I think I know what a bullet sounds like,"

"They're probably in trouble we have to go," Wanda urged.

"You're right, let's go," Steve nodded. The team jogged down to the house when they saw the front of the house completely gone. The whole front wall facing the street was obliterated from existence. There was no door, no window. The edges were scorched.

"Was that a gun's doing?" Darcy asked, observing the scorch marks from the faint light coming from Sam's old torch and Wanda's glowing hands.

"No, that looks pretty similar to some of Stephen's magic accidents in classes,"

"He burned down half of the A'lar house?" Thor said, amused.

"Let's go," Wanda quickly said, snapping them back to reality. The group cautiously entered the house, finding a hole in the kitchen leading down to what seemed like a secret base.

"Well," Sam shrugged. "We are intruding the house of the guy who planned to shoot us, can't expect less than a secret base.

Steve raised his shield and entered first, slowly edging in.

Everyone followed behind.

As they walked through the small corridor they approached a room. Steve stopped in time, making sure the people inside didn't see them.

"Who is it?" Thor asked.

"I don't know," Steve tried to peer over the control panel that sat in the middle of the room.

"I see Than's ugly dad," Bucky pointed out when he came in sight. He was holding a pretty large gun.

"That doesn't look pretty,"

They watched as Than's dad began shouting at someone. They figured it was their friends.

"YOu and your sneaky friends ruin our plans, arrest MY son, do you really think you can get away with this?" He snarled at a corner not visible to the observing group.

"And you Strange, I initially thought you were a small scrawny kid who could barely fight. I'm not wrong, I just didn't anticipate your extensive ability in the magic arts. You're nothing more than a wannabe witch and soon you'll be nothing at all,"

"What do we do?" Thor whispered. There was no answer as Than's dad loudly ordered one of his mates.

"There, take the wizard, the girl and the blond chicken to the others. Let's extract this machine from Stark," he ordered.

As the men pulled Clint, Loki and Stephen to another room, all the others could hear was Clint's whines about how 'he wasn't a chicken'.

"What do we do?" Thor repeated as the kinky sounds of torture tools echoed through the room.

"Uh," Steve looked frantically around the room.

**...SceneChange...**

Clint, Loki and Stephen fell on top of each other in the room.

"I'm not a chicken you incompetent idiots-" Clint yelled through the thick iron door.

They scrambled to their feet to find the rest of their friends there.

Peter, Gamora, Nebula, Carol and Rocket were sitting on the floor of the room, beaten.

"Hey," Peter mumbled.

"What happened you guys? We came looking for you," Stephen frowned.

"We got caught," Rocket rolled his eyes.

"That stupid son of a b*tch has a whole defence system out there. No magic boundaries, smoke machines, ugh," Nebula growled.

"Yeah," Stephen sighed.

"We need to get back out there, they're going to take out Tony's arc reactor and that's not good for anyone," Loki began.

"We're stuck in here, trust me we've tried," Carol pointed to the big scorch circle on the wall where it was obvious she'd tried to blast open multiple times.

"There must be another way," Stephen looked around the square box they were imprisoned in.

"Look, the others are outside, Steve and that. They'll figure something out," Clint figured. "Then they'll get the police and then we'll be free,"

"Yeah, but what if they need our help," Stephen argued. "If we create a really big blast, almost like a bomb, we can blow this thing from the inside,"

"One problem Dumbledore," Rocket stuck his tongue out. "_We're_ inside,"

"Shield," Stephen stuck his tongue out in return as he conjured up a small spherical shield in his hands.

"Hm, that could work," Carol began. "I have made a blast big enough before that blew up that one building back at home. The CIA got involved," she mentioned sheepishly.

"Then? What are we waiting for," Clint grinned.

"What about the timing?" Peter spoke up. "Carol will need to initiate the blast and then Stephen will have to create his shield immediately after. If you're a millisecond too late we'll be burnt toast,"

The room was silent for a bit when Loki spoke up. "Well, I am quicker and more accurate than Stephen. I can create shields as well, although not as strong as Stephen's. I can begin the shield and then Stephen, who will follow as soon as he can, can strengthen mine. Then it won't matter if he's a bit late because my shield will protect us in case,"

Peter seemed content. "I've done more dangerous things,"

**...SceneChange...**

Natasha heard the radio buzz from the police officer beside her. The others watched as she grabbed the radio off the officer.

"Who owns the house?" She hastily asked.

"Um, uh, you aren't Officer Lar-"

"No I am not but I may know more than he does, just tell me, who owns the house" Natasha urged. The address seemed too familiar.

"Uh, The A'lar family," the reply crackled through the radio.

"We're sending back-up," and Natasha shut off the radio. She turned to the Chief in the room. "Hey, Chief, we need to send back up to 34 Titan Rd,"

The buff police officer initially seemed amused at the bundle of kids rushing in there with Than accusing him of being behind the school shooting case but now he was a lot more entertained. "Listen here, kid. You're being paranoid. We'll send one or two officers to check out the scene. Officer Orwell just said he heard a bang and some smoke, coulda just been a bonfire accident,"

Natasha seemed furious. "I know for a fact my friends, one of them who the A'lars are personally targeting, are there right now. I am positive there's no _accident_, I'm sure there are fire-arms involved and we need a whole team,"

The chief chuckled. "Hey look," he turned to some of his officers. "Jackson, Erlwright, go check out the scene," He faced Natasha. "There, now they'll report back. If there is indeed firearms we'll send more people.

Natasha flicked out her student ID. "I attend SHIELD, I have been assigned to this case and you have to listen to me!" but she only received more laughter in response.

"Hey," Ned whispered. "I called Mr Fury. He's sending some SHIELD agents here tp convince them,"

"Thank god," Natasha sighed, still glaring at the chief.

It wasn't moments when four fully armed and suited SHIELD agents entered the station.

"Agent Larson, go get the son out of custody," the head agent order one of the others.

"Excuse me, Than A'lar is in own custody-" but the chief was cut off.

"Agent Jai of SHIELD," the head agent held up his ID card. "We've taken over this case, that was ours initially but we'll brush past that. We need your officers to go to 34 Titan Street. We have a confirmed case of firearms and the organisation that was behind the school shooting last term,"

Natasha smirked behind Agent Jai.

The Chief nodded. "Alright, you heard him, guys! Gear up," he nervously glanced over at Natasha and her friends.

Agent Jai turned to Natasha. "Fury has assigned you to head advisor of this assignment,"

"That means I get to instruct all of you?" Natasha asked, bewildered.

"You advise _me _what's best and I see what's reasonable," he nodded. "Let's go," he began to leave. "You three, come as well," he pointed to Ned, Val and Jane.

Sirens filled the atmosphere as the four students ended up behind a police vehicle. As they entered the empty neighbourhood at about 9pm, the sirens went off. Soon enough, they reached Titan Street and placed themselves outside.

"What do you suggest we do?" Agent Jai asked Natasha.

"Chances are, they've taken out the arc reactor from Tony by now, we should call for an ambulance with any special necessities," Jane pointed out.

"Do what she said," Agent Jai order a standing officer.

Natasha glanced at the scorched house. "All of my friends are in there. Do you have a phone? I'm going to try and call someone in there,"

Jai passed her a phone. Natasha thought for a bit of who to call. She quickly dialled a number and waited for someone to answer. The phone beeped as someone did answer.

"Wanda?" Natasha exclaimed through the phone. "What's going on? It's Natasha, we've got a whole team out here-"

"Yeah well get people down here because we're being attacked-" Wanda's voice was muffled by what sounded like an explosion. The ground shook a bit, supporting the fact it was an explosion.

The phone cut off.

"What the hell was that?" Val asked, holding a metal bat she somehow acquired in her hands.

**...SceneChange...**

"What do we do?" Thor repeated

"Uh," Steve looked frantically around the room. He spotted an electrical box. "Okay, I'm going to take the power out. Once it's dark, Thor, Sam and Bucky, go find Tony. I'll take down the big guys with Wanda and Darcy you-"

The whole room fell silent as Wanda's phone started ringing.

"Now!" Steve exclaimed, throwing his wonky shield at the electrical box, making the room instantly dark.

He heard everyone scramble around. He also heard Than's dad yelling at his co-workers along with multiple clangs of falling items and hitting people.

Steve crawled to Wanda was clutching her phone. "Who is it?"

"SHIELD," Wanda replied.

"Answer it," Steve pressed the button himself.

"Wanda?" Natasha's voice was distinct through the phone. "What's going on? It's Natasha, we've got a whole team out here-"

They were running out of time. Wanda cut off. "Yeah well get people down here because we're being attacked-" but she couldn't finish her sentence as an explosion hit the room and the room got even darker.

As the ringing in her eyes started to fade, she uncovered her head from her hands. "St-teve?" she coughed.

"I'm here," Steve stutter, helping Wanda up. He waved the dust out of their faces.

"What happened?" Wanda asked.

"I don't know, where's your phone?"

"I- I dropped it somewhere," She tried to squint past the smoke. "Look,"

Steve looked up and saw the bright yellow-green light of a magic shield where their friends had been continued. They stumbled towards it.

As the shield flickered and disappeared, they saw Stephen collapsed.

"What happened?" Steve asked.

"Made an explosion to escape," Rocket summarized.

"I made the explosion," Carol pointed out, her face covered in soot and her hair frizzed up. She was the only one from the room that was covered in dust like Steve and Wanda were.

"Loki! Are you alright?" Wanda left Steve's support and help Loki up, who seemed to be struggling to stand.

"Yeah," she muttered, coughing. "Stephen's used most of his energy," Steve knelt down to help Stephen up.

"What happened out here?" Peter asked, suddenly wary of the dark dusty room that once had three big men with guns that wanted to kill them.

"No idea, but SHIELD's outside. Natasha's there," Steve answered.

"Natasha? Is she alright?" Clint asked.

"She's fine,"

"GUYS!" Darcy's voice was heard. "We've got a lot of blood, so get your asses here,"

The group stumbled over to where Darcy was speaking.

She was kneeling over Sam, who had a nasty head injury. It was obvious some debris hit him. Bucky was trying to lift a slab of concrete off Thor's legged.

Underneath some other debris was a body that was quickly identified as one of Than's dad's bodyguards.

"Is he alright? I don't know medical stuff," Darcy asked, wiping her hands on her dusty skirt (which wasn't a good mix).

Stephen dropped out of Steve's arms and knelt beside Sam, inspecting his head. "He's fine, probably mild concussion, we should get him out of here," he muttered weakly.

"That might be a problem," Clint stated, shining his dodgy torch at what used to be the entrance. The concrete and steel roof of the fortified basement had fallen and completely blocked the entrance.

"Can you blow it?" Peter asked Carol.

"I'm on the verge of collapsing, I doubt it," Carol shook her head.

"Can you?" Loki asked Wanda as they held each other up.

"I don't know, I haven't done big blasts before," Wanda doubted.

"Plus, I think what's holding the roof up right now is the slab that blocking our exit," Bucky pointed out.

"Where's Tony?" Stephen asked.

There was a bit of silence.

"We went to get him but both of the men attacked us," Thor stated, pointing to the probably dead body of the man beneath the debris. "Than's dad must've gone off with Tony when the explosion went off,"

"That means there's an exit," Gamora said. The sisters had been silent for the whole time. "We need to go after him,"

"Half of us can't even stand," Steve looked at his friends.

"We split up," Nebula said what everyone was thinking. "Sam, Caorl, Thor, Loki, and Stephen can stay behind until SHIELD makes an exit. Darcy can stay to supervise them-"

"I'm going," Stephen managed to stand up.

"No you're not," Steve insisted. "You can barely walk. I know how much Tony means to you but he's our friend too. We will get him to safety. You'll just slow us down," Stephen sat back down in exhaustion but didn't protest.

"Alright, let's go," Gamora grabbed a lying slightly-bent steel rod.

Wanda helped Loki sit down. "Get a phone, or find mine, maybe you guys can call SHIELD again.

The new team then walked into the darkness of the rest of the room with only Clint's flashlight to guide them. It wasn't soon when they found a thinner corridor, about the width of one person and a half.

"I guess this is where they went," Rocket sighed, eying the drops of blood that trailed down.

Back with the others, Darcy had managed to find Wanda's phone. Unfortunately, it had been crushed and didn't work. "Darn it. How are we supposed to talk to SHIELD now,"

"Shh," Loki whispered. Darcy fell silent. Everyone heard some muffled footsteps. Dust was seen falling like crumbs. "They're above us,"

On cue, they heard some voices and thuds on the otherwise of the debris that blocked the entrance. They were trying to clear the exit. In reply to this, the room shook.

"Stop!" Thor tried to call through the rocks. He stood up, holding his bleeding and broken leg. Darcy helped him stay up. "You're gonna make the roof fall on us!"

There was silence.

"Thor?" Val's voice was pretty clear despite their location.

"We're here," Thor nodded.

"Is everyone alright?" Natasha was heard.

"Um, no, Tony and Than's dad ran off somewhere after the explosion. The others who weren't hurt went after them," Thor explained.

"Who's hurt? Is everyone okay?" an Agent asked, who was Agent Jai.

"We've got a broken leg, three Enhanced that are exhausted and almost passed out and Sam's got a bleeding head. He's knocked out," Darcy pointed out.

"Darcy?" Jane's voice was now heard. "What are you doing here?"

"Jane? What are _you _doing here?" Darcy asked, surprised.

"Nevermind. How do we get to you if moving this thing will break the roof?" Agent Jai asked.

Loki stared at the roof. "We go through the roof,"

"What?" Almost everyone asked.

Loki sighed, probably from the lack of energy she had. "Most of the steel and concrete that makes the roof is on the floor right now due to the explosion. What's left of the roof is basically just the floor of the living room. We cut a hole in the living room,"

"She's got a point," Agent Jai's voice was heard. The group heard a muffled discussion on the otherwise.

After a bit, Natasha replied. "Okay, we're coming above you,"

It didn't take long for them to cut a hole into the wooden floor and let in some light into the dark and dusty basement they were trapped in.

Agent Jai and Natasha jumped in. "Alright, get Sam onto the stretcher," Natasha helped Jai carry Sam onto the stretcher that had been lowered. Once he was up, a harness was lowered to lift everyone up.

"Darcy you're fine," Jane hugged her friend. Jane was suited up in some basic protection gear, as was Val, Ned and Natasha.

"Where's Peter?" Ned asked, looking through the small group of people they recovered.

"He went with the others to find Tony," Darcy answered. She turned to Agent Jai. "Also I think there are two dead bodies under all that mess, uh, they were Than's dad's men,"

"Alright," Agent Jai nodded to his team. "You guys start clearing the area, you lot, we're going down to follow the rest of the kids,"

"What about us?" Natasha asked.

"You stay here. We don't want any more people in danger," Agent Jai pursed his lips. "Help your friends," and with that, most of the agents disappeared down the basement.

"They'll be fine, Nat," Val placed a hand on her friend's shoulder.

"I hope so,"

**...SceneChange...**

The group was silent as they went through the stuffy corridor in single-file. A couple of sneezes and coughs occurred here and then but there wasn't an end to the hallway yet.

"Wait," Steve paused, causing a few bumps as people stopped. "The blood drops have stopped,"

Clint, who was behind him, shone the light on the floor. Indeed the bloodstains had stopped. Instead, the last one was significantly bigger, as if multiple blood drops had dripped onto the same spot.

"Maybe they stopped the blood in the wound?" Bucky frowned.

"Wait," Clint raised his torch to the roof. Everyone tried to see. "There's a door. Steve, help me up,"

Steve knelt down to support Clint higher. Clint held his torch with one hand and opened the door with his other. Slowly, he pushed the door open. Once the door had opened just a centimetre, a gunshot was heard and Clint let go of the door.

There was some silence.

"What was that?" Peter asked nervously.

"Someone's up there," Clint concluded, he hopped off Steve.

"How do we get up there without getting shot then?" Wanda asked.

"You," Steve began. "You can produce small shields. Go up there and make their bullets run out. Then they'll be easy to take out. Even if it's Than's dad,"

"Just hide behind your shield and it'll be fine," Bucky assured her.

"Alright..." Wanda slowly squished her way past Bucky and Clint. She hopped onto Steve and held the trap-doors handle. After taking a deep breath she opened the trap-door, immediately pushing a shield out so her hand wouldn't get shot.

Two gunshots were shot then silence. She pushed the door all the way open and hoped up to the surface, still holding up her maroon coloured shield. As she did this, more gunshots followed. Two more, in fact.

As she opened her eyes (that she didn't realise she had closed) she saw the attacker. It was Than's dad, no surprise. Tony was in a chair, not moving. He was unconscious with a bloody shirt, the blood more concentrated at his chest area.

Wanda grimaced and turned back to Than's dad, still holding out her shield.

"Listen, little girl, just drop it. He'll live. Let me get out of here," Than's dad tried to coax.

"You still need the arc reactor," Wanda's voice shook. The gun was still pointed at her. She noticed it had two shots left.

"I already have it," Than's dad lifted a bloody hand that had the arc reactor in it. It was drenched in blood, probably since it wasn't taken out properly but rather hastily due to the change in plans.

Wanda held her breath. "Then why aren't you just running away like the coward you are,"

"The door's behind you sweetie," Than's dad's mouth curled into a nasty smile.

Wanda quickly glanced behind her to see the door of the odd room. In this moment she felt a punch on her shoulder. In the rush, she blasted a ball of energy in Than's dad's general direction. Hitting him successfully, he flew back into the wall.

"What's going on?" Steve called from below. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, give me one sec," Wanda lowered her shield as she spotted the gun on the floor far away from Than's dad. She cautiously kicked Than's dad's leg. He was unconscious. "He's out cold," she called.

As she bent down to grab Tony's arc reactor, Steve and Clint managed to climb up. "Shit, is he alright?" Clint exclaimed, at the sight of Tony's body.

Steve and he walked over and began checking. "He's got a pulse," Steve stated.

Wanda walked up to the body and show the two the arc reactor. "I'm guessing they basically ripped it out of him,"

Before they could say anything else, a few other people popped out of the hole. SHIELD Agents.

"Thank god you're here," Steve sighed of relief.

"Here," Wanda passed them the arc reactor. She seemed a little dazed.

After that, it was just a blur.

**aha,,,, I'm so sorry for the late update,,hm I managed to keep a good schedule until recently,, :/**

**but? the books almost at an end,,maybe one or two chapters left? this has been a big part of my life, I've been writing this highschool au for a whole year now phew. once again, I cannot express how much thank you I want to say to all you readers, to those who comment, reread it, vote and just an amazing thank you to those who even made it this far.**

**stay tuned, and stay safe ;)**

**thanks/**DJ

**_extra note: i am mostly active on wattpad, which has an extension where i can post announcements. i have realised that where my wattpad readers can be notified of any delays, you guys cannot so if there are any long delays i apologise in advance, i get really busy a lot TwT_**


	20. EIGHTEEN: Recovery

**"** it only makes him stronger** "**

**recovery**

_returning home_

The students (apart from the exchange students) were used to the post-events from a pretty high-level event like a school shooting, or an extreme hostage situation.

Loki had been given special 'energy booster' tablets so she wouldn't pass out. Her support shield apparently significantly helped Stephen's, since Carol's blasts were more powerful than they had anticipated. She had managed to stay awake all the way to SHIELD Academy but passed out when they entered the gym hall. She fell asleep on the bleachers as the officials were sorting everything out.

Carol had used a lot of her energy up when she blasted the room apart. The room, turns out, had been built specially to contain even the most powerful bombs. She was also given the special 'energy booster' pills but fell sleep on the ride to SHIELD Academy. She was woken up later to give a statement but ended up being dismissed because she was too dazed.

Sam had been knocked out during the explosion from a bit of concrete skimming his head. He had bled out but it clotted quickly. He'd been immediately driven to the hospital after being released from the basement. He got a mild concussion but otherwise, he was up and chatting with his friends the next day.

Thor had broken his leg due to the falling debris and ended up on crutches. Nothing he was a stranger to. He was taken in the same ambulance as Sam's.

Darcy was fine. She wanted to take the 'energy boost' pills just to see what would happen but Jane held her back.

Jane travelled back to SHIELD Academy with Darcy, taking notes about what happened. She was very distraught but intrigued by the situation. She answered a lot of Darcy's mindless questions.

Val travelled back to SHIELD Academy with a grumpy Natasha. She understood Natasha's annoyance at not being able to help more and was a bit annoyed herself. She was just glad they got Than and Than's dad behind bars. For now.

Natasha was annoyed but she understood why she couldn't go. She went with Val to SHIELD Academy and into the gym hall, giving statements and helped their friends who had passed out from their exhaustion.

Ned had gone back to SHIELD Academy's gym with some agents, anxiously waiting for Peter to arrive with others without being hurt. He helped the others but when the second group returned, safe and relatively not injured, he ran up to Peter and made sure he was okay.

Peter was in mild shock but was okay. He didn't get any bad injuries and his cover as 'spiderman' hadn't been blown yet. He helped Ned and SHIELD with all the processing.

After arriving at the gym, Gamora and Nebula had immediately been taken by agents for questioning and processing. They were fine and were let out quickly. They were relieved about the A'lar family being taken down. They both got angry but worried calls from their parents.

Rocket seemed unscathed but was happy to give statements and helping the agents putting away their weapons. He swears that he didn't mean to 'click off the safety lock and try out the laser gun on the dummy that was lying around'.

When Clint arrived, he immediately looked for Natasha. She was relieved to find he was okay. They talked about what happened. Clint only watched as Natasha was ranting about the chief police and what he had said.

The officials took Wanda into questioning and processing as soon as she came in. After getting her statements, she took the booster pills as she was close to passing out. She hadn't used her powers to this extent before. She fell asleep beside Loki on the bleachers. No one disturbed the couple.

Bucky wasn't doing okay in the aftermath. Steve had to help him in the bathroom and calmed him down. They didn't have to give statements yet. Bucky wished he could tell Steve everything but he couldn't. He could only tell him and the officials what had happened and that was it.

Steve wanted to find where they took Tony but he wasn't allowed. He went to help his friends instead. The atmosphere of the gym was busy but dead. Everyone was tired.

Stephen didn't pass out, even though it was his shield that protected his friends. He was exhausted, yes. He wanted to close his eyes and sleep, but he couldn't. He managed to keep his eyes open, which was a struggle, even after taking one too many of the booster pills. Once in the gym, he wanted to find Tony. They didn't tell him where he was.

It was Stephen. He knew perfectly where Tony was. Even Clint could figure it out. He and a couple of the others (who could still stand) managed to sneak out of the gym and steal a police car to ride to the hospital.

They made a pit stop at Thor and Sam's wards and then headed to the more officially secured wards. They didn't let them in.

Stephen passed out in front of them.

**...SceneChange...**

_Beep. Pause. Beep. Pause. Beep. Pause._

The repetitive sounds of the heart monitor were haunting. The continuous buzz of the other machines didn't help.

Stephen woke up with his muscles aching. His head aching. Everything aching. After stretching his arms and his eyes adjusting, he found he was sitting in a chair in some office. An office with the morning sun shining in. But he could hear the muffled sounds of the machines next door.

In a flash, he was up and at the door, his hands fiddling with the handle. Bad idea, he thought as spots appeared in his sight. He moved too fast.

_Click._ The door swung open and Stephen limped to the door that was beside the one he had left. As his hand landed on the handle someone called his name. "Stephen," It was Happy.

"Tony," Stephen turned around. He felt lightheaded still. "Is he in there?" his words were almost slurred._ Damn this headache._

Happy smiled softly. "He's alright," he wrapped an arm around Stephen as if he were about to faint. "You can see him later,"

"No, I can't, I have to see him now," he managed to choke out, the floor still spinning.

Happy sighed as he walked Stephen away from the room. "He's unconscious right now. He'll be awake later you can see him them,"

As Stephen broke free of Happy's hold and was about to turn around to speak to him (if he didn't lose his balance beforehand), Stephen spotted the man he _really _didn't want to speak to right now.

Howard Stark.

Stephen didn't say anything but just stared up at the man who had drunkenly told him to stay away from Tony. At the man he knew abused his son. The world seemed to have paused for Stephen. Happy disappeared, the nurses about then disappeared. The room stopped spinning.

"Mr Strange," Howard spoke. He paused as if Stephen would interrupt but Stephen was too tired to say anything. Howard stepped closer to him. "I know I should I apologise about what I said last time,"

Stephen just stared blankly. He felt his hands again. _Not now,_ he told himself.

"I just wanted to say-" but Howard never finished his sentence.

Stephen turned to Happy. "Is everyone else alright?"

"Yes. They should all be at home right now," Happy nodded.

"What happened? I don't really remember." Stephen just ignored Howard's presence.

Happy fiddled with his clipboard. "Your friends found Tony and Than's father. He had taken out Tony's arc reactor with the proper procedures. Luckily Tony was smart so before he passed out he used the remaining of his nanotech to stop the major damages done. He's fine though,"

Stephen looked down. "Thank you. I'll come back later when he's awake," he muttered. Turning around, he walked right past Howard without even glancing at the man.

**...SceneChange...**

"I can't believe it. We almost die one day and then we've got a math test the next," Clint sighed, shoving books into his locker.

"That's our life," Natasha frowned.

"At least our SHIELD Agent ID's look cool,"

Natasha frowned. "We're _barely _agents. We're like, 'just in case' agents,"

"Still, better than before. We can technically use the staff room facilities. I'm pretty sure they've got a Slurpee machine in there," Clint pointed out. The two students walked out into the gardens and met up with the group in their usual spot.

"Hey," Steve smiled.

Those who needed to take the energy booster pills or went to the hospital weren't at school today, but everyone else was. Although, Nebula and Gamora weren't. They got taken out of the exchange program by their parents so they could go and say 'f*ck you' to the A'lar family in the next state. They were upset about leaving but glad that it was so they could properly get 'legally' mad at Than.

"Math's sucked," Clint stated.

"What did you get for question 4? I got 42," Bucky asked.

"42? I got 344," Natasha frowned.

"I got 7 square-rooted," Val pouted.

"I got 21 over 5," Rocket shrugged. "Maybe we did a different test,"

"Maybe they'll go easy on us," Steve grinned.

"The answer was %100 36, I just did it now," Jane showed them her working out.

"Damn it," Clint rolled his eyes.

"Hey, did anyone get to see Tony after yesterday?" Darcy asked, curious.

"No, we got to the wards and they didn't let us in. Stephen then passed out," Steve replied. "I don't think anyone's seen him yet,"

"I hope he isn't in a too bad of a shape," Natasha sighed.

"Tony hasn't had a good year has he?" Peter said, "Got shot last term and now this,"

"It only makes him stronger,"

Stephen walked into the room. It was the afternoon and he had rested so nothing really hurt anymore.

"You have ten minutes," The nurse said before leaving.

"Thanks," Stephen walked to the side of the bed and just looked at Tony.

Tony was somewhat awake. His eyes sort of flinched opened than flickered open. "Stephen?" His voice croaked.

"It's me," Stephen replied after a pause. "How are you feeling?"

"Horrible," Tony smirked before regretting it. It hurt. "Hm, that hurts,"

"Then don't laugh," Stephen automatically said.

"Didn't think of that, genius," Tony managed to reply. "Plus I'm looking at your face, it's pretty hard not to laugh at that joke,"

"Wow," Stephen fell into a smile. "But you love this face so much you've kissed it,"

Tony frowned as much as he could without it hurting in response. "Hm really? I don't remember it's been so long,"

"Really?" Stephen looked down at him.

"No," Tony whispered. "I said that so you can kiss me again to refresh the memory,"

Stephen sat on the chair next to him and placed his hand on Tony's. They were cold. "Only if you answer a question,"

"Alright," Tony turned his head so he could see Stephen.

"Can this be our first kiss being a real couple," Stephen asked in a whisper as well, getting closer so Tony could hear.

Tony stared into Stephen's eyes softly. After some silence, he replied; "As long as you tell everyone I asked you out not the other way around. I have a reputation to keep,"

Stephen broke into a smile again. "Mm," was his reply before leaning into the kiss. And this time it was a real kiss. No awkward tension between them, heated anger didn't leave their tongues and no interruptions.

Except that Stephen broke the kiss to laugh.

"What?" Tony frowned, blushing.

"Your heart-rate monitor," Was all Stephen could say.

Tony wasn't amused but he smiled anyways while still blushing. The monotone beeps had increased.

"If it keeps going the nurses will think you're dying," Stephen was still laughing.

"Shut up," Tony huffed.

**hEY kiddos,,, this is teChniCaLLy the last chapter,,, but await an epilogue in a few days time TwT this has definitely been a long journey so thanks for sticking by**

**thanks/**DJ


	21. EPILOGUE: In The End

A few weeks had passed and Tony was let out of the hospital. He was as good as new. At this point, they didn't even need to tell their friends or the other students they were dating. Half of them already agreed they were dating a couple of months ago anyway.

The constant hospital visits, the late-night hospital visits, the constant texting, it was very obvious to their friends that the two had finally broken the tension.

Although, when they went back to school people figured they would be able to _actually learn _something in class since they were dating. But they were wrong, the banter only increased and they were still fighting for the top of the class.

Stephen finally broke past the %100 mark and now the two were fighting for the %105-10 area. Half the teachers were done at this point.

Howard Stark never called Stephen 'a poor excuse of an intellectual' after both Stephen and Tony graduated SHIELD Academy in Year 10 **(the year after the events of this series take place, remember they were in Year 9). **

Of course Tony and Stephen still _attended _SHIELD Academy after graduating, they were both SHIELD Agents, give or take. Fury wouldn't lose two of his best students yet.

They both just attended University on the weekends and during the evenings.

Oscorp High, Xander College, NSMI and Westwood all became Specialised and Enhanced schools and were partnered together, so the adventures didn't end yet.

The Avengers Club was allowed again, on special order by Fury but only members of the Avengers club knew they sometimes dealt with real-life SHIELD cases (sometimes). And only members of the Avengers had access to the Slurpee machine.

Senior Year was the worst year for SHIELD Academy. Hydra went full out with nasty pranks. The Avengers retaliated with double power and double jokes. Tony insisted on giving the Janitor a raise after the second day of school that year because of the pranks. The janitor got the raise on the third day of school when the Avengers had to flood the third floor with slime because Hydra had filled every locker with flour.

Everything was fine. Sorta. Nothing normal happens to these kids anyways. Next, it might even be an alien invasion but Natasha told Clint that was stupid.

Tony and Stephen celebrated their three-year anniversary by kissing on the top of Stark Tower, which Tony now owned. (Howard had given up when Tony won a Nobel-Prize for his nano-tech when he was 17 and Stephen won a Nobel-Prize for his new discovery methods in surgery at 18).

This time, the date wasn't orchestrated by Loki and Wanda (who were also celebrating their three-year anniversary). Although, Loki helped Tony try and make it 'perfect' and Wanda had to help Stephen make it 'perfect'. This backfired (two rights don't always make a right) and a lot of things went wrong that day.

But it didn't matter because this time no security guard stopped them from kissing on top of the 'R' of the 'STARK' logo on the (now) skyscraper.

**the end**


	22. Authors Note

**guys,, so**  
**exACTLY 1 year ago today,**  
**i uploaded the first chapter of this fic**  
**on wattpad and **

**i don't remember much**  
**except writing the first 5 chapters**  
**in one go i was so excited**  
**and inspired that **  
**i no longer remember**  
**what is in each chapter**  
**since all the events are blurred**  
**in my mind p**

**i certainly didn't think i would've **  
**ended up writing over **  
**116,000 words,**  
**over 45 chapters**  
**and all these wonderful readers.**

**so i guess thank ALL of you**  
**for reading and enjoying.**

**now, **  
**i won't be making a third**  
**instalment (i will still**  
**be continuing the comic, however**  
**long that takes)**

**but i may do some 'specials' or**  
**something, i really do enjoy **  
**high-school AU's and the MCU**  
**so...keep your eyes out for **  
**anything! **

**also considering a hogwarts au?**  
**not sure yet, we'll see.**

**if you are interested maybe follow me?**  
**to get updates if i do publish a new thing?**

**idk, but thanks anyways **

**for helping me finish this!**

**last sign off from me:**

**thanks/**DJ


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